Leeds stars make big ripples for Olympics

Yorkshire is fast becoming a major hub for Britain’s diving team as more than half the squad for next month’s world championship are coached in the county. Nick Westby reports.

Talk diving in this country and one name immediately springs to mind – Tom Daley.

Britain’s favourite schoolboy has added a touch of glamour to a sport that has always had the ability to set pulses racing with its mix of danger and drama.

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But the 17-year-old from Plymouth is not the sport’s only teenage star, and nor for any longer should the sport be synonymous with just one young man.

For as Daley heads to Shanghai next month as Great Britain’s leading medal hope at the FINA World Championships, one Yorkshire club has become the breeding ground for the next crop of diving starlets to capture the nation’s imagination – City of Leeds.

Of the 11-strong squad that heads to China next Friday, six train at the John Charles Aquatics Centre in Leeds and, for good measure, Daley’s synchro partner Nick Robinson-Baker trains at Pond’s Forge in Sheffield.

But it is Rebecca Gallantree, of Leeds, 26; Jack Laugher, of Harrogate, 16; Alicia Blagg, of Wakefield, 14; Hannah Starling, of Leeds, 16; Jenny Cowan, of Bradford, 20, and Sarah Barrow, of Leeds, 22, who provide the heartbeat of the British challenge in the Far East next month.

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They fly out to their holding camp in China on Friday before heading to Shanghai to begin their quest for medals in diving’s second biggest international meet on July 16.

“The facility has a lot to do with the success,” says Adrian Hinchliffe, who, along with renowned Dutch coach Edwin Jongejans, tutors the divers at the John Charles Centre.

“We get great support from British Diving and Leeds City Council, which has helped us create an elite environment for the divers in our programme.

“And it’s very popular not just for local divers who have this on their doorstep, but also people who come up to study here at university.”

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Gallantree and Barrow were born outside Yorkshire but came to Leeds to continue their academic and diving educations.

Gallantree is the veteran in the Leeds team, having experienced the height of Olympic competition in Beijing three years ago and the heat of battle in the World Championships in Rome 12 months later.

She has been in Leeds nine years after moving north from her birthplace of Chelmsford, Essex, to improve her chances of competing in the big events.

“The programme is fantastic, Ady and Ernie are really good coaches,” says Gallantree, who is hoping to contest three disciplines in Shanghai.

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“They’re really good to work with, everyone in the team has a very good work ethic, a good understanding. It all makes for a very good atmosphere.

“When I first came to Leeds nine years ago we were still at the Leeds International Pool. I knew it was a great programme when I came up, that it was strong platform and the coaches were good, but this facility at the John Charles Centre is such a bonus for us all.”

By default, with so many teenagers around her, Gallantree will be a senior figure to call upon over the next month as the likes of Laugher, Blagg and Starling experience competition at the highest level for the first time.

“Hopefully, I can pass on some knowledge,” she says. “Alicia competed in the World Cup in China last year and the Commonwealth Games so although she’s only 14, she’s got some experience.

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“It’ll be Jenny Cowen’s first major event but she can handle it.

“They’ll all be fine and if not, I can at least be on hand to help out if they need it.”

The boy in line to threaten Daley’s popularity as diving’s leading light is Laugher.

The teenager began at Harrogate Diving Club before moving to Leeds to enhance his prospects of competing at next year’s London Olympics and he has proven he has the credentials to match world champion Daley by winning four junior world and European titles last year and placing in the top 10 in the 3m final at the Commonwealth Games.

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Coach Hinchliffe is keen not to raise expectations too much on such young shoulders, but it is obvious that Laugher is a young man poised to make a serious splash.

“Jack does springboard to Daley’s platform but Jack is another very, very talented young man,” he says.

“Tom has achieved so much in such a short space of time that he is an inspiration for Jack and for all other young divers. If Jack can achieve only half as much as Tom has then he will have done fantastically well, but he is making rapid progress.”

The target for all 11 in Shanghai this month is not just world titles, but also to begin making ripples in the London Olympic pool.

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Every individual who qualifies for a final will qualify their country for a place in that discipline at London 2012.

For Gallantree, who will contest the 3m individual, 3m synchro with Blagg and potentially the 10m synchro with Cowen, the Olympics is the motivating factor.

She says: “London 2012 is at the back of everyone’s minds. The worlds are massive but with qualification at stake it’s the start of our Olympic campaign.

“Having experienced Beijing I know what a fantastic experience an Olympics is and it’s exciting to know that a home Olympics is just around the corner.”

Blagg learning on route to the worlds

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Teenage diver Alicia Blagg is juggling school work with training as she prepares to take on the world’s best next month at the FINA World Championships.

The 14-year-old has been selected as part of an 11-strong Great Britain team to compete in Shanghai next month.

World champion Tom Daley and Olympic silver medallist Pete Waterfield lead the team with Blagg being one of six competitors diving out of the City of Leeds team to be selected.

She hopes to continue on from her great success after finishing fifth in the 3m synchro at the European Junior Championships and fourth in the 3m synchro at the Commonwealth Games last year.

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Now diving for seven years after she was spotted by coaches while at Woodlesford School, Blagg’s training regime sees her working for up to 16 hours per week in preparation for the championships – leaving her little time to keep up with her school work.

“Its quite difficult actually,” she said. “But I can manage my school work when I’m away because we recently started having tutors travel with us, so that helps a lot with the studying.

“I have one day off a week from training, and that is usually on a Sunday or a Monday, so if it is a Sunday, I spend time with my friends, and if it’s a Monday, I get all my homework done.”

With the World Championships now less than a month away, the young diver is thrilled to compete in China – especially as she will be competing alongside so many of her friends and Leeds colleagues.

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“It’s so exciting,” said Blagg, whose parents have already secured Olympic tickets for next summer’s diving finals in anticipation of her reaching it.

“This whole year has been designed for the World Championships and the fact that I have qualified for it is really amazing.

“We are more of a family than a team and I hope we can all perform well.”