Plymouth divers to fly flag for Britain at Rio
Plymouth divers Tonia Couch, Sarah Barrow and Dan Goodfellow will be heading to Rio this summer, the British Olympic Association confirmed today.
They’ve all been selected to represent Great Britain at the Games, alongside former Plymouth Diving team-mate and Olympic bronze medallist Tom Daley.
Tom and Dan will be teaming up again for the men’s 10-metre synchro event, after winning gold at the British Diving Championships in Sheffield last week and silver at the European Diving Championships in May.
Sarah, who also won gold at the British Diving Championships despite a difficult year beset with injury problems will be competing in the women’s 10-metre platform and Tonia will partner Leeds diver Lois Toulson in the women’s 10-metre synchro as well as diving in the individual event, in what will be her third Olympics.
Lois showed huge promise throughout 2015, becoming European Games Champion and winning medals on the senior Grand Prix circuit before pairing up with Tonia at the World Series where they were often on the rostrum among some of the top teams in the world.
Dan, Sarah and Tonia train at the Plymouth Life Centre, one of only three high performance diving centres in the country, under the expert guidance of world-class coach Andy Banks and Marc Holdsworth, who moved to Plymouth with Dan three years ago to benefit from the programme and facilities on offer in the city.
Andy said: “The four-way backing I have had since March 2015 from Plymouth City Council, Everyone Active, Marjon University and Plymouth College has enabled me to stay in Plymouth and continue working with the top divers towards the Rio Olympics. This support has resulted in Tonia, Sarah and Dan being selected to a very strong GB diving team for this summer’s Games and I am very grateful for their ongoing help, which is allowing these talented divers to fulfil their dreams.
“The divers all work really hard in Plymouth’s world-class facilities, along with our coaching support team of physios, strength and conditioning, psychology, nutrition and lifestyle – and it is this whole dream team that have helped towards these selections. Bring on Rio!”
Councillor Glenn Jordan, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, added: “It’s absolutely fantastic to see our divers once again flying the flag for Plymouth and Great Britain at the Olympic Games. We’re really proud to be home to such great talent and to have such strong support from our partners, including Everyone Active, the University of St Mark & St John and Plymouth College. We wish the whole Team GB squad the best of luck in Rio and will be cheering especially loudly for Dan, Tom, Tonia and Sarah.”
Image: Tom Daley - sportsphotographer.eu/Bigstock
