Dublin Diving Club - News

David Linehan Wins 2 Medals at 2010 FINA World Masters Diving Championships

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:16:27 GMT

There were some amazing results for Dublin Diving Club at the FINA World Masters Championships in Goteborg, Sweden last week! David Linehan took home two medals, a silver in the platform event and a bronze on 1 metre springboard. He just missed a medal on 3 metres by a few points as he misjudged and kicked out of his reverse 2 and a half somersaults a little too early. This is a dive he was pulling in very consistently in training, but this is the nature of diving and on the day anything can happen, despite the best preparation.

Sergiy Khimich also from Dublin Diving Club finished 6th on 3 metres and an agonizing 4th on 1 metre springboard in what was a very competitive group. Some spectacular diving was seen throughout the championships, not least of which was Sergiy's forward 3 and a half somersaults (a rare sight to see at a masters event).

Both David and Sergiy showcased their new dives on the world stage where their talent was there for all to see and both had diving lists with a high degree of difficulty.

The competition has certainly put Dublin Diving Club on the world map yet again! Just last year David won silver at the European Masters Championships in Seville and Vlada Shapoval won gold on both 1 metre and 3 metre springboards.

Dave would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody for their support and of course a special thank you to Ricardo, his coach, for all his hard work in getting David and Sergiy ready for the competition. David himself is an active coach with the club and all his own divers have been following his World Masters journey on the daily blogs that were featured on the club website.

2010 World Masters Championships Blog - Part: 6

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 09:10:06 GMT

Hej everybody!!

Just at the end of our final day (Fredag) and we managed to finish on a high with Dave securing second place and a silver medal on the platform. Again his forward 2 and a half was his best dive of the event scoring highly from every judge. Dave would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody for their support and of course a special thank you to Ricardo for all his hard work in getting Dave ready for the competition. Muchas gracias mi amigo. Thanks also to Maeve for putting up with us boys for the week and for the vital tips before the competition.

Oleg (Ricardo's high-diving friend) stole the show today by bringing a bit of entertainment with his flying forward somersault from 10m while holding the Swedish flag, which went down well with the judges and the crowd!!

Some spectacular dives were on display throughout the day and Dave's handstand 2 somersaults was in among them with a great entry earning a big applause from the crowd. All in all a very successful trip with Dublin Diving Club raising the bar yet again!! Irish diving is clearly in safe hands with Dublin Diving Club and Ricardo at the helm.

- The Dublin Diving Club team in Sweden

2010 World Masters Championships Blog - Part: 5

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:36:17 GMT

Hej!

Just coming to the end of a very successful day (Torsdag) in Gothenburg. Sergiy competed in the first event of the day. In a very competitive group, Sergiy did extremely well to earn a 4th place medal. He wowed the judges and the crowd, being the only diver of the championships to perform 305c (reverse 2 and a half somersaults tucked) from the 1m springboard.
Dave's competition was the last of the day. He remained calm throughout and his consistency paid off. It was a tight competition, but Dave kept his best forward 2 and a half somersaults for the event, which secured the bronze medal for him, Dublin Diving Club, and Ireland!

It was a well-deserved medal, and shows that commitment and hard work will pay off in the end. All the team and Irish supportors were so proud to see Dave on the podium, and Dave was beaming like a Cheshire cat for hours!

Meanwhile, Maeve managed to punch a Hungarian lady in the face and break the lady's glasses while coaching Dave in the warmup to his event, so a word of advice to anyone poolside with Maeve - keep your distance, she has a wide wingspan!

Some world masters records were set over the last few days, including 2 by the Mexican competitor Ibone De Belausteguigoitia in the Women's 80-84 category. Tomorrow is the final day of individual diving, with everybody competing on platform. Dave is due to dive in the last event at around 18.30hrs (17.30hrs Irish time). Once again, thanks for all the encouragement and support.

We'll update you all tomorrow with a final note from Sverige!

- The Dublin Diving Club team in Sweden

2010 World Masters Championships Blog - Part: 4

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:46:50 GMT

Hej!

Competition-free day today (Onsdag) so we enjoyed a bit of a lie-in as training was not available until the other competitions finished. Maeve certainly took advantage of the lie-in opportunity, making up for the early morning the day before. Elephants in the corridor wouldn't have woken her!

We went training around 4 o'clock. Everyone was happy with how it went and we are feeling relaxed for tomorrow. Sergiy is competing on 1m Springboard at 09.00hrs (08.00hrs Irish time) and Dave is on the board at about 16.30hrs (15.30hrs). All crossed fingers and toes are much appreciated thanks.

We saw some amazing ripped entries during some platform training including a number from Ricardo's Ukranian friend Oleg who is more used to 25m dive shows but gave everybody a lesson today. A 70+ diver also impressed us with his 10m dives including forward one and a half and back somersault.

Maeve has invented a new language called "Swenglish" it's a mixture of Swedish and English. At the end of dinner today Maeve said "Tanks" to the waitress, which is a mixture of "thanks" and "tack" (Swedish for Thanks). We think that Swenglish is going to catch on.

Thanks again for all your messages of support. We will update you again soon.

Hej då!! (bye)

- The Dublin Diving Club team in Sweden

2010 World Masters Championships Blog - Part: 3

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:15:11 GMT

Hej!

Wonderful news today (Tisdag!). Dave and Sergiy finished in 4th and 6th respectively on 3m springboard. These results are great considering the inevitable nerves of the 1st day of competition. The guys showcased their new dives on the world stage where their talent was there for all to see. The competition has certainly put Dublin Diving Club on the world map yet again!

Some spectacular diving was seen throughout the day, not least of which was Sergiy's forward 3 and a half somersaults (a rare sight to see at a masters event). Dave followed suit by executing his back 2 and a half somersaults with ease.

After the competition we headed to the local rollercoaster park in order to get rid of the extra adrenaline that we had built up during the day! We cleverly decided to wait until after we had a go on the world's largest wooden rollercoaster before we had dinner to reduce the risk of emptying our stomachs onto the crowd below!

We are regularly being asked about when the Dublin masters competition will be held as everybody is really keen to visit as they have fond memories of the previous masters competition organised by the club.

Thanks to everybody for all your good luck messages. We hope to keep doing Dublin Diving Club proud in the upcoming events.

See you tomorrow for another taste of Sweden!

- The Dublin Diving Club team in Sweden

Results can be found here

2010 World Masters Championships Blog - Part: 2

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:26:44 GMT

Hej!

Just coming to the end of day 2 (Mandag) in Gothenburg. Sergiy arrived late last night to complete the Dublin Diving Club team. After some Swedish pancakes we made our way to Valhalla pool for another training session, sticking to the 3m board today in preparation for tomorrow's competition. Everyone is happy with how the training went.

Dave is making sure that he gets his daily milk quota to avoid the milk withdrawals!

We have decided that we should start canvassing the aquatic centre for a jacuzzi at poolside because it's lovely to jump into after a tough session.

Dave is competing around 10.30hrs Swedish time (9.30hrs Irish time) with a warm-up at 7. Sergiy is scheduled to compete at 13.00 Swedish time (12.00hrs Irish time). Keep your fingers and toes firmly crossed.

Bye for now, we'll be back in touch soon with another update.

- The Dublin Diving Club team in Sweden

2010 World Masters Championships Blog - Part: 1

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:14:39 GMT

Hej!

Arrived in Gothenburg yesterday about 4 o´clock. The first thing we noticed about Sweden was that it is a lot quieter than Ireland! They decided that we deserved a VIP trip in to the city in the official competition car (a Volvo of course) that was meant to only bring committee members but we snuck in the back seat!

We completed the accreditation process yesterday when we arrived at the Valhalla pool. We keep flashing our cards at people to see what it gets us. So far we have free public transport (It makes us feel like celebrities).

We explored the area around the hotel and pool and decided to have dinner at a Turkish restaurant because it was very busy so we thought it was a safe enough bet. We ate outside and as is the tradition in Sweden they provide rugs to keep you warm. Of course our rugs were the Irish colours. The weather is not as Swedish as we were expecting. We were told that the last 6 weeks have been around 28 degrees every day but this week it's a bit Irish. Typical!

Everyone speaks to us in Swedish because I look like one of the locals!

We went to the pool today for training. There are 25 countries competing, including Mexico. It was busy in the morning and the water is very cold, Dave's lips were blue so he jumped in the jacuzzi for a few minutes and that did the job. It took a while for Dave to get used to the boards but after a while he got the hang of it and dived well. The oldest competitor is an 88 year old lady from Great Britain. She does some classic dives from 5m like back dive straight, and back dive half twist.

Everyone is very friendly. Already we have received an invitation to travel to the Dutch Masters Championships next year and people are asking about when the Dublin Masters is kicking off again so we better get planning!

Vlada's success in the Europeans is still fresh in everybody's minds and they were delighted to hear her good news (with a sigh of relief that they didn't have to compete against her). Sergiy is arriving tonight so we are looking forward to the whole team being here for more training tomorrow.

Anyway, now we're off to find some traditional Swedish grub so we'll update you soon.

- Maeve

XIII FINA World Masters Championships

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:11:25 GMT

On the 27th of July two of Dublin Diving Club's divers, David Linehan and Sergiy Khimich (pictured), will compete at the World Masters Springboard and Platform Championships in Gotenborg Sweden. This is the first time that Dublin Diving Club has been represented at this event.

Both divers have been training very hard for the past few months developing their diving lists to include dives with a high degree of difficulty. Sergiy will be performing his list of dives which includes 3 and a half somersaults from 3 metre springboard as well as his 2 and a half somersaults piked from 1 metre springboard.

David will be competing with his back and reverse two and a half somersaults from 3 metre springboard as well as his 2 and a half somersaults piked from 10 metre platform. Last year, David won silver at the European Masters Championships in Seville in Spain in the platform event. At this same event Vlada Shapoval, another club diver was the gold medal winner on both 1 metre and 3 metre springboards.

Both David and Vlada are two of the seven active coaches in the club and bring a high level of expertise to their lessons.

All of the divers in Dublin Diving Club wish David and Sergiy the very best of luck in the World Masters Championships and the club will be following their progress at the event and providing regular updates.

XIII FINA World Masters Championships site

A Special Thank You to Plymouth Diving

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:18:36 GMT

This weekend, 2 of Dublin Diving Club's divers, Vivienne Hew and Natasha McManus are participating for the first time in the British Gas UK Age Group National Championships in Diving in Southampton in the UK.

In preparation for this event these divers along with Francesca Hew attended a week long training camp with the Plymouth Diving Club and its team of coaches. Plymouth is well known for the high calibre of divers it has produced, the best known being Tom Daley who recently won gold at the World Championships 10 metre platform competition at the age of only 15. This additional training was not only very helpful to the development of the Dublin divers but was a very enjoyable week for all concerned. Ricardo Gutierrez, the Head Coach from Dublin Diving Club who is also the Irish National Diving Coach worked closely with the Plymouth coaches, collaborating on training methods and techniques.

Dublin Diving Club would like to sincerely thank the coaches and parents of Plymouth Diving who facilitated this training week for the Dublin Club. The club looks forward to developing its links with Plymouth further in the coming months and years.

Plymouth Diving

Dublin Diving Club Novice Championships 2010

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:23:00 GMT

The inaugural Dublin Diving Club Novice Championships 2010 took place at the National Aquatic Centre on Sunday, June 6th.

The event was a resounding success with almost 40 divers taking part in their first diving competition.

The day started off with our youngest competitors demonstrating the skills they have been practicing for the last few months on poolside and springboard and they showed impressive composure. Parents, guardians and coaches beamed with pride.

Nerves were evident but were overcome with the support of all the other divers. The next event was the 12 -16 age group which was an all boy event. Nerves, determination and skill were all demonstrated in what turned into a fabulous event featuring somersaults from these brave boys.

The final event was the masters. Adults new to this difficult sport demonstrated the skills they had learnt in the last 12 months. These masters are wonderful ambassadors for our sport.

The delight on everyone's face was fantastic at the presentation ceremony. All participants received a commemorative medal and a club tee-shirt.

The participants were all club members that have taken up diving over the last 12 months. This included divers from 6 years old in the junior section to adults of all ages in the masters section. The purpose of the meet was to give these new divers an introduction to competition and to give valuable judging/officiating experience to our recently qualified officials.

A big thank you is due to Dave Malone, Head of Paralympic Swimming in the Paralympic Council, who took time out of his busy schedule to present medals to all of the participants on the day. Dave is one of Ireland�s most successful Paralympic athletes, representing Ireland at 4 Paralympic Games. Dave won Gold at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games and Silver at the Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.

A big thank you to the many Dublin Diving Club volunteers who were responsible for running the event who ensured the huge success of the event. Included were, our coaches, judges, announcer, recorders and technical people for the electronic scoring system and of course the organising committee who were responsible for the planning and co-ordination of the event.