Tanya Watson 15th in Tokyo 2020 Semi-Final

August 05, 2021

Team Ireland diver Tanya Watson closed out our Tokyo 2020 aquatic schedule on Thursday morning with 15^th place overall in 10m Platform, having made the semi-final on her Olympic debut.

The 19-year-old, with roots in Derry, posted the second highest score of her senior career on Wednesday to get through to the next round, and showed the same professionalism and composure in a challenging semi-final.

Against 17 of the world’s best, Watson stepped up to improve her scores on her first two dives, and did not lose focus after missing the third dive, producing solid efforts on her final two dives to finish with a total tally of 278.15 points.

She adds this performance to her fifth-placed finish in the 10m Platform final at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018 when she was aged only 16.

Watson told RTE afterwards: "My third one, I just kicked a bit late.

"My start was confident – I was really happy with other parts of the dive. Unfortunately, my entry wasn't so good.

"And then I pulled myself back up. I did a good fourth dive, really happy with that, especially as my fourth dive in training has really been not very good.

"For it to be one of my most consistent dives in competition, I was really stressed about that dive, and I'm really grateful that I managed to pull it off when I needed to.

"My last dive could have been a bit better, but after the dive, I was just so happy that I was an Olympian!"

Damian Ball, National Head Coach for Diving, added: "Today was another solid performance from Tanya, and overall this has been an amazing debut Olympics for her.

"There was some world class diving in the pool today and for Tanya to make the final today would have required an international PB score.

"Just as we saw at the World Cup, she was not a million miles away from reaching the all important finals. She should be very proud of everything she’s achieved this year."

Watson was the last Irish aquatic athlete to compete for Ireland at Tokyo 2020, signing off a successful campaign for Team Ireland's largest ever aquatic team for an Olympic Games.

Aquatic attentions now look ahead to the Paralympic Games, which begin on August 24 and will feature five Irish swimmers: Ellen Keane, Nicole Turner, Patrick Flanagan, Barry McClements and Róisín Ní Ríain.

Full results from 10m Platform Semi-Final: Diving - Semifinal Results (olympics.com)

Tanya Watson – 10m Platform Semi-Final Scores