Leisure Kicks - The essencial sport and leisure guide

As with any other sport, there are detailed regulations for equipment and for the types of dives performed. The rules of diving are focused around the three main phases of every single dive: takeoff, flight and entry. In some dives where there is an approach involved, this is also factored into judging. There are four events in the top levels of diving, which are individual and synchronised events on both the 10m platform and 3m springboard. 

In all events the women must complete five dives and men do six. The programme for the springboard athlete (or pair), must contain a dive from each of the five categories (men may repeat one of these): forward, back, reverse, inward, and twisting. Each dive must be different. On the platform, there are six categories: forward, back, reverse, inward, twisting and armstand. In competition, each dive receives a score from the judges out of 10. Synchronised diving judging is based on how the two divers individually perform their dives, and how the two divers as a team synchronise their performance.

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Tom Daley’s introduction to platform diving