Houlden happy to place fifth on Olympics debut

Jordan Houlden delivered a consistent series of dives to lock in on fifth place in the Men’s 3m Springboard final. Holding together any nerves, the Sheffield diver was getting great height in his take-offs from the board in Paris – opening proceedings nicely with a Forward 2½ Somersaults 2 Twists Pike (5154B) for 76.50 points.

Continuing to tick through the dives on his list, the 2022 European and Commonwealth silver medallist added an extra twist in the fourth round to perform his hardest degree of difficulty dive – a Forward 2½ Somersaults 3 Twists Pike (5156B) – before closing out with a neat Forward 4½ Somersaults Tuck (109C) for 74.10 points to round out his total score on 427.75 for fifth in his debut Olympic final

“It was a great achievement to finish fifth and to be in the final,” said Houlden.

“That was my main aim, make it to the final and I did it. I came in here guns blazing and then I got a little bit nervous, and once those nerves kicked in I got a bit fidgety, but I think I did alright with the nerves I had.

“I know I can do a lot better - there’s some dives that could have been sharper, a lot better and cleaner on the end, but I’m still very happy with fifth. Fifth at the Olympics, it’s not too bad.”

On the competition standard in Britain and the support he’s received to achieve this moment, Houlden added:

“It’s been a tough ride. There's so many top British divers that can be in my position right now and that can do I what I do, and to be picked in the top two is phenomenal. You’ve got all these divers, plus everyone up and coming. You’ve got Jack [Laugher], who I know he wanted to do a lot better than he did today. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way.

“I’ve not seen my family today yet but they’ll be somewhere in the crowd and they’ll be happy. Thank you to everyone in Sheffield supporting me, I love you all.”

Laugher had been in sparkling form through the qualifying rounds and entered the final with the possibility of getting on the Olympic podium in the individual springboard event at a third consecutive Games.

Having used experience to hold together an opening dive in which the Leeds-based diver took off from the edge of the springboard, Laugher’s competition kicked up a gear with 84.00 points scored on his second round Reverse 3½ Somersaults Tuck (307C).

It was a dropped dive in the third round that unfortunately then derailed the four-time Olympic medallist’s bid to add to his collection - and while closing with three 70-plus point efforts, it was only enough to place seventh overall.

“I think I just let today get the better of me,” said Laugher.

“All week after the synchro I was just kind of taking things as they came, I didn’t mind how the result was going to be and that almost gave me a bit of freedom as I competed. Today I had an excellent training and I think I got a bit too far ahead of myself and I think the emotion, the crowd noise following Osmar [Olvera Ibarra] – who is such a wonderful diver with massive support for himself – I didn’t expect that to affect me the way it did.

“The dream was to get two medals [in Paris] and I thought I could do something really special today. I’m really proud of this Olympics, proud of myself, and wth four Olympic medals [over my career] it’s hard to be sad but obviously right now in this moment I’m devastated.”

On the legacy he’s played a big part in creating for British diving, Laugher added:

“I think what myself and Tom [Daley] have done for the sport - Tom especially for my career personally - the legacy we’re going to leave is absolutely wonderful. We have nine medals between us and I think it's not just the accolades, but who we try to be as people and athletes that sets the tone for the rest of the team. If we can inspire the next generation then that’s my job done.”

Team GB will also have two representatives in the Women’s 3m Springboard final after Grace Reid and Yasmin Harper qualified in inside the top-12 divers in Thursday morning’s semi-finals.

Harper put herself in a good qualification position over the opening rounds, peaking her individual dive scores in the third round as she took home 64.50 points for her Inward 2½ Somersaults Pike (405B). Those foundations proved a key buffer against a misplaced effort in the fifth round costing the 3m synchro bronze medallist a place in the final as she qualified just inside the cut in 12th.

Meanwhile three-time Olympian, Reid, steadily solidified her progress with each successive dive - finishing her list as she had done in the prelims with a strong closing Forward 2½ Somersaults 1 Twist Pike (5152B), which ultimately secured Reid her spot as the athlete seeded seventh heading into the final.

On arriving ready to compete in Paris, Reid commented:

“I’ve definitely been building over the last couple of years. I had a long wait from the start of this Games so it had been tough to kind of see everyone else get going and I’ve been here itching to get started.

“If I think about three years ago to the juxtaposition of where I was back then, it was a struggle waking up every day, but this morning since I woke up I’ve just loved every second and I’m really enjoying it. That’s a massive testament to everyone around me who has helped me get back to this place mentally, the physical bit in some ways is easier, but the brain took a bit more convincing to come back and just start to enjoy it.”

Having shared a picture of a young Grace on her dad’s shoulders in Paris from a visit to the city during France’s Olympics host bid to her Instagram, Reid was asked to reflect on what it means to her to be at the Games.

“Looking back and thinking if I told myself at that age you’ll go to three Olympics it’d be a huge achievement, and yet sometimes because I’ve been around so long I forget,” she said.

“Actually being here is a huge celebration but equally I don’t want to come and make up the numbers, so it’s been really difficult to find that balance between ‘make every moment count’ because you don’t know if it’s the last, and then at the same time you’ve worked so hard and want to let that hard work show.

“In Rio I was so young and it was far away so it was only my Mum and Dad sunburnt in the crowd, but here I have my boyfriend, my best friend and godmother too - just all of them are here with ‘Go Grace’ t-shirts. That means a lot that actually, as I really want to perform well but they love Grace the person and are just super pleased that I’m here competing today.”

Ahead of the Women’s 3m Springboard final getting underway on Friday afternoon (2pm BST), Kyle Kothari will make his Olympic Games debut in a Men’s 10m Platform preliminaries line up which also features Team GB synchro silver medallist, Noah Williams (9am BST). You can find details of all the upcoming aquatics action from Paris 2024 through our What’s On? Page.

Where can I watch?

The BBC will be covering the majority of the Games across BBC One and Two, the BBC Red Button and BBC iPlayer. You can find their coverage schedule by clicking here.

Discovery+/Eurosport will also be broadcasting every minute of the Olympic Games but these channels require a subscription fee.