Diver’s Olympic dream

A Year 8 pupil has been placed 12th in a national diving competition. 12-year-old Gil Segev competed at Level 3 at this year’s National Age Group Diving Finals in Sheffield.

Gil started diving when he was eight, and was immediately talent-spotted. “I had been doing gymnastics at Hendon Leisure Centre, and when I started diving lessons the coach moved me straight into the Barnet Copthall Diving Club,” said Gil.

He competes in individual competitions on the 3m and 1m boards, and in ‘synchro’ on the 1m board. For each event he has to perform a number of dives, each of which is rated with a tariff that reflects the difficulty of the dive.

“Although I have won silver and bronze in competitions across the country, I’ve yet to pick up a gold, so that is one target for me. And as my diving improves I will be learning more complicated dives which get higher scores. I might have to change to the Crystal Palace Club because they have 7m and 10m platforms,” he added. “If I work hard then one day, you never know, I might make it to the Olympics.”