Nicholas Robinson-Baker and Ben Swain took to the boards at the inaugural FINA Diving World Series as a relatively unknown pairing but left the competition as Britain’s only medallists and proved their ability to compete alongside the world’s best.
The pairing were set to compete at their first international competition at the World Championships in Melbourne in March 2007 but after Robinson-Baker injured his ankle they were unable to show the world what they could do.
They entered the FINA Diving World Series last September after working on their partnership for only six months and they proved their ability as giant killers as they beat Olympic medallists Germany’s Frank Sander and Andreas Wels to the bronze medal in the 3m Synchro.
The pair looked impressive throughout the competition in their home pool and showed no signs of nerves as they took on world and Olympic medallists in a performance that would begin an excellent six months for the athletes.
“I was really excited going into last year’s event,” Robinson-Baker said. “It was the first time we had competed in an international on home soil and it was a fantastic atmosphere.
“It proved to be the start of a turn around for us as a team. We announced our intentions to the world – that we wanted to beat the best. It was our first major medal and was the start of a great partnership.”
The young diving pair went on to compete at the World Cup in Beijing in February where they found themselves competing against the world’s best but this time under the pressure of trying to qualify a place in the 3m synchro for Great Britain at the Olympics.
The event was the final opportunity to gain qualification to the Games and the FINA Diving World Series set them up for the success they gained in China.
“Since the FINA Diving World Series we have gone onto to become national champions and we finished in fourth place at the World Cup in Beijing,” Robinson-Baker added.
“That was an amazing competition to have been involved in, there was a lot of pressure on us as we competed first and knew that if we got a good result this would push the rest of the team on.
“We had a dream start and we finished in fourth place just behind the Russians and gained GB a valuable qualification for the Olympics. I know that seeing that helped the team onto our best ever result.”
All of Britain’s top divers have competed in strategically placed competitions as British Diving’s experts prepare the young athletes for the Olympics this summer.
National Performance Director Steve Foley believes competing at the FINA Diving World Series will emulate an Olympic final with the top eight divers in the world competing for the spoils and Ben Swain is relishing the prospect of competing against the world’s best on home soil.
“Last year we expected to dive well, our training had been perfect in the lead up and we would have been disappointed to have come away without a medal,” Swain said.
“This year we are more prepared than ever before. We have the bonus of having more international competition under our belt and this will help us deal with the pressure of competing on home soil better.
“This is perfect preparation for the Olympics as only the top 8 divers in the world will be there and this is a great opportunity to test ourselves before we try to guarantee our place for the Olympics at the National Championships in June.
“We have a plan in place in the run up to the Olympics and we need to keep that clear in our heads as we enter every competition in the next few months.”
“There are bound to be expectations on us going into this year’s event and there is no reason why we can’t go out and grasp another medal,” Robinson-Baker said.
“At internationals we always look to take on Germany. They are a good team and we always look to beat them but they are not competing here so we can go into the competition with an added bit of confidence.”
-ENDS-
The FINA Diving World Series (Sheffield) takes place at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre on 24th and 25th May 2008.
Ben Swain (City of Sheffield)
Nicholas Robinson-Baker (City of Sheffield)
Thomas Daley (Plymouth Diving)
Peter Waterfield (Southampton Diving)
Blake Aldridge (Southampton Diving)
Jodie McGroarty (City of Sheffield)
Tandi Gerrard (City of Leeds)
Hayley Sage (City of Sheffield)
Stacie Powell (Southampton Diving)
Sarah Barrow (Plymouth Diving)
Monique McCarroll (Southampton Diving)
Staging of the FINA Diving World Series involves funding partners: UK Sport, British Swimming, Sheffield City Council, Yorkshire South and Sheffield International Venues - Ponds Forge International Sports Centre.
For further details contact British Swimming Media Assistant Gemma Field on 01509 632262, 07917 726431 or email gemma.field@swimmng.org
British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain. It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales. (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association) British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.
UK Sport works in partnership with national governing bodies and distributes National Lottery funding each year through the World Class Events Programme to support their bidding and staging costs, as well as providing specialist technical support. Since 1997, UK Sport has supported more than 80 events of World, European and Commonwealth status
www.uksport.gov.uk
Sheffield City Council's Major Sports Events Unit have attracted this event to the City and work with other major sports events owners to attract national and international events to the city - on average more than 30 each year.
Sheffield is committed to hosting a full programme of sports events throughout the year and it is the sheer number and diversity of events that underpins Sheffield as an events capital. The City's programme enhances Sheffield's image on the national and international stage, in addition to providing huge economic benefit to the city.
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