Beginning with the 1924 Games in Paris, American divers began to dominate the diving competition. Between 1924 and 1988, U.S. divers won an unprecedented 44 of the 60 gold medals in men’s and women’s Olympic diving competition, going one-two-three 19 times.
Names such as Pat McCormick, Miki King, Jenny Chandler, Mark Lenzi, Bob Webster, Phil Boggs, Vicki Draves, and Sammy Lee, are all legends in the history of Olympic diving.
And then there is Greg Louganis. While many will debate the tile of the world’s geatest diver, his dominance and influence on the sport during the 1970’s and 1980’s is unparralleld. His four golds and one silver are not the most won by any diver, but the manner in which he won those medals is impressive. And Louganis was denied the chance to compete in Moscow in 1980. Having won world championships in 1978 and 1982, he certainly could have achieved a tripe-triple.
The U.S. dominance during this period did not go unchallenged.
Italian Klaus Dibiasi won three platform golds in succession until his retirement in 1976, and Soviet diver Vladimir Vasin broke a streak of 11 straight U.S. victories in men’s springboard with his win in Munich in 1972.
On the women’s side, Ingrid Kramer of East Germany won the women’s springboard titles in 1960 and 1964, and the platform title in 1960. Her victory snapped a U.S. string of springboard titles that had stretched to eight Olympic Games.
1988 signaled a changing of the guard in Olympic diving and U.S. success has waned in recent years. The Athens Olympics in 2004 had the dubious distinction of being the first Olympic Games in which an American failed to earn a medal. The U.S. did not send a full complement of divers to Athens, failing to qualify for the women’s synchronized springboard. The success of the Chinese has definitely been a factor in the lack of U.S. sucess, but the Russian, Australian, and Canadian diving federations have made a commitment to diving and have helped knock the U.S. off of its once lofty perch.
