The individual diving events at the Tokyo Olympics are getting underway after a thrilling set of finals in the synchronized events. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch diving, how the competition is scored and more.
Olympic diving schedule for Tokyo
Here’s how to watch all the rounds of the individual diving events:
Women’s 3m springboard:
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Men’s 3m springboard:
- Preliminary: Monday, Aug. 2, 2 a.m. ET (Stream and live on CNBC)
- Semifinal: Monday, Aug. 2, 9 p.m. ET (Stream)
- Final: Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2 a.m. ET (Stream; also airs in primetime on NBC)
Women’s 10m platform:
- Preliminary: Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2 a.m. ET (Stream)
- Semifinal: Wednesday, Aug. 4, 9 p.m. ET (Stream; also airs in primetime on NBC)
- Final: Thursday, Aug. 5, 2 a.m. ET (Stream; also airs in primetime on NBC)
Men’s 10m platform:
- Preliminary: Friday, Aug. 6, 2 a.m. ET (Stream)
- Semifinal: Friday, Aug. 6, 9 p.m. ET (Stream; also airs in primetime on NBC)
- Final: Saturday, Aug. 7, 2 a.m. ET (Stream; also airs in primetime on NBC)
How deep is an Olympic diving pool in Tokyo?
Tokyo Olympics
Watch all the action from the Tokyo Olympics live on NBC
Diving pools have to be at least five meters (16.4 feet) deep for it to be safe to do dives from the platform, which is 10 meters (32.8 feet) high.
The diving events for the Tokyo Olympics take place at the Tokyo Aquatics Center, which has a 50-meter-long pool for the swimming events in addition to the five-meter-deep diving pool.
Why do divers rinse off after diving?
Divers say that rinsing off helps prevent keep their muscles warm and prevent cramping when they get out of the warm pool water and stand in the cooler air of the deck.
How does Olympic diving scoring work?
There are seven judges in individual diving events (11 in synchronized events). Each of them gives each dive a score of 0-10 (in half-point increments). The judges do not have access to video replays – what they see is what they score!
The two highest and two lowest scores are thrown out. The remaining three scores are added together, then multiplied by the dive’s degree of difficulty. For example, a reverse two-and-a-half somersault with a half twist in the tuck position is worth 2.7.
In men’s individual events, each athlete performs six dives, while it’s five for the women. The divers must submit a list to the judges of which dives they will perform in the round, and in which order. They also must do dives of different categories, e.g. forward (where they face the water and rotate forward) and reverse (where they face the water and then rotate backward).
Why are some scores crossed out in diving?
The crossed-out scores are the highest and lowest scores that are thrown out and not used to calculate the diver’s score on that dive.
