The Diving World Series stopped by Dubai for the third time last weekend and the level was so high that the finals line-up could have easily graced any world championship or Olympics.
The men’s 10m platform delivered some sensational skill as world champion Qiu Bo scored perfect 10s in one of his dives and Russia’s Victor Minibaev emerged victorious amidst a group of current and former world and Olympic champions.
But perhaps the most significant outcome of the meet was the increased number of spectators at the Hamdan Sports Complex (HSC), compared to previous years.
Most swimming or diving events held at the HSC have brought in sparse crowds in the past, particularly since the location of the venue is quite remote.
And although the number of spectators were not in the thousands, there was still a significant increase, which was acknowledged by the officials from FINA.
“We come to Dubai and usually we have very little people but this year it is incredible. We have had a lot of people, particularly for the evening finals. A lot from the Chinese community and a lot from the British community,” Diving World Series managing director Melanie Beck told Sport360°.
“This is the third year that I’ve worked with the Dubai local organisers and this year they have been utterly amazing. The professionalism, the efficiency, the slickness of everything.
“The athletes have said to me how incredible it has been. This year they’ve given them a wonderful dry land area which they’ve never had before. And that’s really important when a diver is effectively away for eight weeks from home. 75 per cent of their time is spent out of the water on a dry land area.”
British diver Tom Daley also revealed how much he enjoyed competing in front of an animated crowd last weekend.
“It was a great atmosphere, so many people came to support which is amazing. If it can be like that every time you come to Dubai, divers are always going to want to come back,” said Daley.
The Chinese unsurprisingly collected six of a possible eight gold medals in Dubai but Beck says the Chinese domination is not as strong as it’s been in the past and that countries like Canada, Great Britain, Mexico, and Russia are producing world-class divers.
No one really knows the details about the Chinese training programme but it seems their strict lifestyle is a key aspect.
“They will always be very guarded about their preparation. But it is a very well-known fact that they take the kids at a very young age, they are taken out of their homes and they go into schools. They just dive, that’s all they do,” said Beck.
“It’s what makes them so consistent because they don’t have other pressures that maybe other divers have. So they are literally completely focused towards their diving.”
