Age 14
Weight 59kg
Height 1.64m
2008 Olympic record
8th in the synchronised 10m platform; 7th in the individual 10m platform
Target for 2012
“My dream is a gold. With a lot of work, and if I dive as well as I can, I hope to achieve that dream …”
I started swimming at the age of three, and I played a few different sports at school – football and rugby – but I wasn’t very good at them and didn’t enjoy them. Then I went to a public diving session and really loved it.
I started diving at the age of seven. Being at the Olympics was fantastic and, because I was the youngest, all the other athletes looked out for me and treated me like a little brother.
I don’t have a strict training diet – I just have to be sensible about my eating, although sometimes I sneak in some ice-cream. I love ice-cream and Haribo – I snack on them in between competitions to keep my energy levels up.
People stop and ask me for autographs where I train in Plymouth, and all around the country. And I get fan mail from girls, and girls taking photos of me when I’m out in town.
I’m still at school at the moment, but I’m managing to balance the two by coming straight home from school and starting my homework before training. In my spare time I like to relax with my family and friends – maybe go out for a meal or something.
My typical week
Monday
5.30–9pm: I start with a warm-up game of “wall tennis” with my coach (playing squash with your hands), then I start weight conditioning. This involves sit-ups (three sets of 10 reps) and weights. With weight training, I can’t lift over my body weight because I haven’t stopped growing yet. Then I’ll practise somersaults on a harnessed trampoline in the gym. This is followed by a series of dive-specific stretches and pool work on the 5m diving board.
Tuesday
5.30–8.30pm: Wall tennis warm-up, weight conditioning, then gymnastics and trampoline work to develop my take-off technique and somersaults, before doing them pool-side. Once I’m in the pool, I start work on the 5m diving board and I can either do dive repetitions at this height, or work my way up to the 10m board.
Wednesday
5.30–8.30pm: as above.
Thursday
5.30–8.30pm: again it’s the same sort of session. I will vary training throughout the week by adding in dry-land sessions (improving take-off technique with a springboard and crash mats).
Friday
Start training after school from 3.15-6.45pm. I follow the same regime as above.
Saturday
Training from 9am–12noon. Afternoon off.
Sunday
Day off.
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