Event: Diving
Who is he? A 23-year-old athlete who will be the first Irish diver to compete in the Olympics in 68 years.
Where’s he from? Dingley is from Harrogate in Yorkshire but is based in Dublin and has been sharing a house with fellow Irish athlete Shane Ryan out by the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown. He qualifies to represent Ireland through his grandmother, who comes from Spike Island, Cork.
Olympic CV: Dingley has never competed in the Olympics before. He had hoped to represent Britain at the 2012 Games, but was controversially omitted from the team in favour of a diver who had finished below him in the trials.
Road to Rio: Dingley sealed his spot at the Olympics last February as he finished 11th in the 3m event preliminaries at the Diving World Cup, comfortably earning the required top-18 spot in Rio.
When does he start? Dingley starts his Olympic adventure on 15 August in the diving preliminaries, which take place between 7.15pm and 10.45pm Irish time.
Where can I follow him? You can follow him on Twitter - @OliverDingley, on Instagram and on Facebook.
What he says: “Every athlete wants to win an Olympic gold medal, but we’ve seen how up and down diving can be… Obviously, the results are very important and we’re aiming very high. But we try not to think about that. It’s kind of a one-dive process… I try to think of one dive at a time.” (The42.ie, 13 March 2016)
Medal chances? Dingley wouldn’t be among the favourites by any means, but diving is one of the more unpredictable events and on a good day, he is capable of competing with the world’s best — three Jerries out of five.
And here’s something you probably didn’t know… In addition to his diving prowess, Dingley was also a talented footballer as a youngster and played for Middlesbrough until the age of 15.
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