SA’s Julia Vincent dives into history as she reaches final at Paris Olympics

Julia Vincent became the first South African to make a diving final at an Olympics, qualifying sixth overall in the 3m springboard semifinals in Paris on Thursday.

The US-based Vincent, competing at her third Games, amassed 297.30 points from her five dives to book her spot in Friday afternoon’s 12-person shoot-out for the medals.

Vincent’s first dive earned her the fewest points, 51.00 compared with 63.00, 64.50, 55.80 and 63.00 for the remaining efforts.

“I was a little more nervous than I was expecting. Just knowing what's on the line, wanting to make sure I made the final,” said Vincent, who was 13th in the preliminary round on Wednesday. 

“I also felt steady and, same as yesterday [preliminary round], just wanted to stay steady, survive and advance. That’s all these rounds are for.”

She admitted her opening attempt wasn’t what it should have been. 

“My first dive I would call a bit of a mess, so I was trying not to watch the scores too much until I until I’d got my rhythm again.

“Then towards the end, I knew I needed something steady on my head — nothing special, just do my dive and I’ll be good to go through.”

Vincent, who ended 10th at last year’s world championships, failed to advance beyond the preliminary rounds at her previous two Olympics in Tokyo and Rio.

Her plan for the final will be to try to keep steady.

“Usually when I try to do too much, that's when things go wrong. So I’m going to almost pretend I'm just surviving and advancing again and see how that works for me,” said the diver, who turns 30 next week. 

Unlike in Tokyo, which was hit by Covid-19 restrictions, she has friends and family in the crowd. “It’s such a big difference. It’s nice to hear them in the crowd. They’re doing a good job being loud, though there’s not that many of them.

“It’s made a huge difference and I love hearing that. It makes me feel they’re the only people in the crowd, which is how I like it. I know it makes a big difference for me on-board,” said Vincent, who planned to see her family for a while on Thursday before preparing for the final.

“There's not much to do between now and the final. All the work has been done. So we're just resting and making sure my body's ready to go for tomorrow [Friday].”

All the latest Paris Games coverage on TimesLIVE’s Olympics 2024 page.

All the Team SA results here.