Noah Williams rounds out historic Olympics for British diving with platform bronze

A historic Olympic Games for Team GB’s divers ended with more silverware as Noah Williams took bronze in the Men’s 10m Platform Final.

The Dive London athlete held his nerve throughout a rollercoaster of a final, scoring a combined 187.95 with his final two dives to propel himself into the podium places with a total of 497.35.

Williams’ Team GB and London teammate Kyle Kothari finished in 11^th place to complete his impressive Olympic debut at Paris’ Aquatics Centre.

It concluded a historic Games in Paris for British diving who return home with their highest Olympic medal haul after also taking to the podium in each of the four synchronised diving events.

The medal also marks Team GB’s fourth ever in the Men’s 10m Platform as Williams emulates his synchro partner Tom Daley who took bronze in this event at London 2012 and Tokyo 2020.

And reflecting on his first individual medal, the 24-year-old couldn’t believe what he had achieved.

He said: “It’s literally a dream, obviously it was a dream to win a medal in the synchro but doing it individually is a whole other level.

“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet as I’m nowhere near as emotional as last time.”

‘I couldn’t have asked for more’

After coming through a difficult semi-final on Saturday morning by just 0.25 points in twelfth, Williams dived first throughout the final and put pressure on the rest of the field for the duration of the contest.

He opened up his list with an Inward 3 ½ Somersaults Tuck that scored 78.40 before receiving eight’s from the judges in round two for his Armstand Back Double Somersault 2 ½ Twist to add 86.40 points to his total.

Another 80+ scoring dive in round three saw him move into fourth and within nine points of the medal places behind the strong starting from Cao Yuan (China) Rikuto Tamai (Japan) and Canada’s Rylan Wiens.

A slight slip in round four made it look like a medal was out of reach but mistakes from Wiens and Tamai in the penultimate round suddenly left Williams within six points of a podium place.

Once again taking to the boards first, Williams saved his best for last absolutely nailing his Forward 4 ½ Somersault Tuck to score a massive 94.35 points.

That left him with a nervous wait to see what the three divers above could manage to beat his total but when Mexico’s Randal Valdez Willars could only manage 61.50 for his final dive, Williams was guaranteed a medal.

“Nobody wants to qualify in 12^th and sneak into the final but Jack (Laugher) in Rio did the same thing,” Williams added.

“When you’re first, I’m not focussed on anyone else and I can just do what I can do which was great.

“I was just able to do what I had to do to get the medal, one of my dives wasn’t great but overall I’m so happy and I couldn’t ask for more.

“Before the last dive I was basically thinking that I don’t think I’ll get this chance again. Obviously there will be another Olympics but being in the position where I was close to medalling, I thought it was now or never and luckily it was now!”

Tamai recovered to score 99 points on his final dive to take the silver with Cao Yuan defending his title to give China a clean sweep of diving gold medals.

He scored a total of 547.50 to finish just under 40 points ahead of Tamai despite being locked in a close battle with the Japenese diver until his dropped dive in round five.

Doing it for Dave

After collecting his medal, Williams paid tribute to his long-term coach David Jenkins who sadly passed away in 2021 after helping him to his Olympic debut in Tokyo.

“I’m really glad that I get to put what we worked on for seven years together today. It’s a good day to do it on today and I’m so happy.

“I miss him so much and I love him, he was gone far too early and I’m so glad that I could do this for him.”

Kothari meanwhile was putting together a good list of his own as he sat in seventh place at the halfway stage.

He particularly impressed in the second round, bouncing back from a mistake on the same dive in the semi-final as his Reverse 3 ½ Somersault scored 81.60 points.

However an error in round four saw him slip to eleventh and adrift from the chasing pack that were looking to capitalise on any errors from the early leaders.

The two-time European champion recovered well to score a solid 73.80 for his final round Back 2 ½ Somersault 2 ½ Twists to end his debut Olympic Games with an impressive eleventh spot.

Reflecting on his achievements as an Olympic finalist, Kothari commented:

“Made the final – qualified in sixth which I though was solid, and I put three steady rounds together to get thing underway in a good position. I said earlier I wasn’t going to leave anything back as be it fourth or 12th it’s the same to me because it’s just not a medal.

“I’m disappointed with how I performed, I think I just ran out of steam and was getting crazy cramps at the end of that but I’m proud I made a final at my first Olympics.”

The Commonwealth medallist has overcome two major achilles injuries in recent years and was upbeat in the knowledge of how far he’s come.

“Three years ago I was sat in an office with my leg in a boot and I wasn’t going to come back to the sport, and if wasn’t for the support and the team around me telling me ‘you’re going to regret it if you don’t give it a go’ I definitely wouldn’t of come back.

“If you’d have told me everything that’s happened from then to now there is no way I would believe you, being an Olympic finalist at Paris 2024 in the individual was beyond expectation so I’m sure in time I’ll look back on this fondly.

“We’re like a family in this diving team, me and Noah for example we actually became friends because I couldn’t get a train home so I crashed at his house when I was like 11 years old, and we’ve just stayed like brothers since – we’re so close and I’m immensely proud of him.”