Awarded Life Membership 19 May 2023
Birth: 15 October 1960, Cloncurry QLD
Valerie Beddoe AM left the diving platform as one of Australia’s most decorated divers, winning a gold medal, two silvers and a bronze at the Commonwealth Games, competing in World Cups and two Olympic Games. She served as a Diving Australia Board Member and Commonwealth Games judge, Australian Institute of Sport coach and Diving Australia’s national high-performance manager and selector.
Born in the small town of Cloncurry in regional Queensland, around 1700km northwest of Brisbane, Beddoe’s journey in diving began in Rockhampton where she would take her first diving lessons, eventually settling in Melbourne. Within four months of training, the prodigious talent shone through as Beddoe won silver at the U15 National Championships.
Two years later, the 17-year-old would make her mark in her first international performance, collecting silver on the 10m Platform at the Edmonton 1978 Commonwealth Games.
As an 18-year-old winning a landmark gold at the 1979 World Diving Cup, she became the first Australian diver to take home an international medal in 55 years, since Dick Eve won gold at the Paris 1924 Olympic Games, breaking one of the longest-running droughts in Australian sport.
Beddoe went on to qualify for her first Olympics at Moscow in 1980, becoming the first Australian to ever qualify for the Olympic Finals, finishing sixth and seventh on the 3m Springboard and 10m platform events respectively.
In front of a home crowd for the first time in her career, the Australian diver was victorious in claiming gold in the 10m platform, as well as bronze in the 3m springboard event at the Brisbane 1982 Commonwealth Games.
Securing her second and final Olympic selection for the Los Angeles 1984 Games, Beddoe placed fifth in the 10m platform. She then continued on to collect silver at the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games, behind Canada’s Debbie Fuller, closing her international career in 1987.
Retirement did not stop Beddoe’s passion for diving, as she transitioned into coaching, joining the Australian Institute of Sport in 1987. Her dedication and expertise led her to be appointed as Diving Australia’s national high-performance manager in the lead up to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Beddoe takes pride in her time spent on the administration and management side of the sport, appointed roles as National Selector, Team Manager for Diving at the Kuala Lumpur 1998 Commonwealth Games and the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Ultimately, Beddoe was also a board member of Diving Australia and Commonwealth Games Judge.
Awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 2000, she was appointed as a member of the Order of Australia in 2001, as recognition of her exceptional services to diving as an athlete, coach and administrator.
Valerie Beddoe AM, who moved to South Australia in 1991, was the second inductee to be recognised into the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame in 2021.
