Men's springboard diving competition has been an Olympic medal sport since 1908. Since that time there have been 22 gold medals awarded with exceptions for World War I (1916) and World War II (1940, 1944).
All Olympic springboard competition takes place from the three-meter height. Of the 22 medals awarded, 15 have gone to American divers despite the fact that the United States boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. The last three winners have come from China who has established themselves as the dominant power in international diving.
Two divers have won in consecutive Olympiads with the first being Greg Louganis of the United States (1984, 1988), followed by Xiong Ni of China (1996, 2000).
| Men's Olympic Springboard Gold Medalists | |
| Year | Gold Medalist |
| 1908 | Albert Zürner, GER |
| 1912 | Paul Günther, GER |
| 1920 | Louis Kuehn, USA |
| 1924 | Albert White, USA |
| 1928 | Ulise Joseph "Peter" Desjardins, USA |
| 1932 | Michael Riley Galitzen, USA |
| 1936 | Richard Kempster Degener, USA |
| 1948 | Bruce Ira Harlan, USA |
| 1952 | David Grieg Browning Jr., USA |
| 1956 | Robert Lynn Clotworthy, USA |
| 1960 | Gary Milburn Tobin, USA |
| 1964 | Kenneth Robert Sitzberger, USA |
| 1968 | Bernard Charles Wrightson, USA |
| 1972 | Vladimir Vasin, URS |
| 1976 | Philip George Boggs, USA |
| 1980 | Alelsamdr PORTNOV, URS |
| 1984 | Greg Louganis, USA |
| 1988 | Greg Louganis, USA |
| 1992 | Mark Edward Lenzi, USA |
| 1996 | Xiong Ni, CHN |
| 2000 | Xiong Ni, CHN |
| 2004 | Bo Peng, CHN |