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Oliver Dingley. Julian Herbert
buzzing

No world final but Irish diver still beaming after Rio qualification

His Olympic spot is in the bag and that’s all that matters for the 23-year-old right now.

IRELAND’S LATEST RIO hopeful, Oliver Dingley, narrowly missed on a world championship final spot in Rio de Janeiro yesterday.

The 23-year-old finished 15th in the semi-finals of the 3m springboard, following his 11th-place finish in the preliminaries, which left him three spots shy of qualification for the final.

But Dingley wasn’t getting too down on himself after his semi-final finish.

On Sunday, Dingley became the first Irish diver to qualify for the Olympic Games in 68 years.

He won a bronze medal for England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games but declared for Ireland later that year through his grandmother from Spike Island in Cork.

The last time Ireland had a diving representative at an Olympics was in London 1948, when Dubliner Eddie Heron qualified.

Ireland’s Natasha McManus was also in action in Rio but a 47th-place finish ended the 17-year-old’s world championships in the preliminaries.

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