IMAGE|| Brianne Makin
Commonwealth Games Australia today announced the diving team for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018).
The 14 strong team comprises a mix of youth and experience and will be headlined by Melissa Wu, who will be competing in her fourth Commonwealth Games.
Wu has been a fixture of Australian teams since competing in Melbourne 2006 at the age of just 13 – she is now a 12-year veteran at just 25 years of age, she highlighted the significance of a home games.
“I was a very young girl in Melbourne but I was lucky enough to come home with a silver medal ,” Wu said.
“Competing in a home games amongst family and friends is incredible and I can’t wait to share the experience with all my team members.”
Also in this year’s team with Commonwealth Games experience is James Connor (Delhi 2010), Anabelle Smith (2010, Glasgow 2014), Maddison Keeney (2014) Esther Qin (2014), Domonic Bedggood (2014) and Georgia Sheehan (2014).
Bedggood and Qin were gold medallists in Glasgow and Sheehan was the youngest member of the entire Australian team in Glasgow, at just 15 years of age.
Keeney is the reigning 1-metre World Champion and will be hoping to add a Commonwealth Games triumph.
Commonwealth Games Debutants include Rio Olympian Brittany O’Brien as well as AnnaRose Keating, Matthew Carter, Declan Stacey, Matthew Barnard, Kurtis Mathews and Taneka Kovchenko.
Kovchenko will partner Wu in the 10m Synchro after a strong showing at the 2017 World Championships together.
Australian Team Chef de Misson Steve Moneghetti congratulated the team.
“This diving team boasts 10 previous Commonwealth Games medals including three gold, so it is a very strong team,” Moneghetti said.
“It is great to see some great young diving talent coming through as well.
“I think many will remember the images of Melissa Wu competing at her first Games in Melbourne 2006 at just 13 years of age, so it is wonderful to see her selected for another home games 12 years down the track.
I congratulate all selected members today and wish them all the best in their final preparations for Gold Coast 2018,” Moneghetti said.
Of the 14 divers selected, three are based in US colleges and the remainder are split between Diving Australia’s Adelaide Performance Pillar (2 athletes); Sydney Performance Pillar (4 athletes), Melbourne Performance Pillar (2 athletes) and Brisbane Performance Pillar (3 athletes).
The full team, with events, is:
- Melissa Wu – 10m, 10m Synchro with Kovchenko (Sydney – SOPAC)
- Taneka Kovchenko – 10m, 10m Synchro with Wu (Adelaide – SAALC)
- Brittany O’Brien – 10m, 10m Synchro with Keating (Sydney – SOPAC)
- Anna Rose Keating – 10m Synchro with O’Brien (Melbourne (MSAC Albert Park))
- Maddison Keeney – 1m, 3m, 3m Synchro with Smith (Brisbane (sleeman, chandler))
- Anabelle Smith – 3m, 3m Synchro with Keeney (Melbourne – MSAC)
- Esther Qin – 1m, 3m, 3m Synchro with Sheehan (Sydney SOPAC)
- Georgia Sheehan 1m, 3m Synchro with Qin (Brisbane sleeman, chandler)
- Domonic Bedggood – 3m Synchro with Carter, 10m, 10m Synchro with Stacey (Brisbane sleeman, chandler)
- Declan Stacey – 10m, 10m Synchro with Bedggood (Sydney SOPAC)
- Matthew Barnard – 10m (USA)
- Matthew Carter – 1m, 3m, 3m Synchro with Bedggood (Adelaide SAALC)
- Kurtis Mathews – 1m, 3m, 3m Synchro with Connor (USA)
- James Connor – 1m, 3m, Sm Synchro with Mathews (USA)
Tickets for the Diving competition at GC2018 are exhausted, however sports fans have plenty of other great opportunities to catch the fantastic action of the Games if they get in quick.
There are around 180,000 tickets remaining for the Games. They include (amongst others) tickets for athletics finals, badminton, hockey, lawn bowls, squash, weightlifting, wrestling and closing ceremony. Tickets can be purchased on a first-come basis atgc2018.com/tickets
