Athens 2004: Chantelle Newbery – Diving

Chantelle Newbery’s gold medal win in the 10m platform diving event was a standout moment for Australians at the Athens Olympics.

Spending 9 years of hard work preparing for the event, her efforts paid off in the final with an almost faultlessly executed dive – a backwards two-and-a-half somersault.

Beating the favourite, China’s Lao Lishi, Chantelle became the first Australian diving gold medallist in 80 years, and the nation’s first female Olympic diving champion ever. Fellow Australian Loudy Tourky won bronze in the event.

The tightly edited segment which combines shots of the dives, the medal ceremony, Chantelle’s Chinese coaching team and personal interviews, captures the historic moment and the electric energy within the stadium. 

A lovely addition to this story is seeing the reaction of Chantelle’s two-year-old son watching the win on television back at home in Australia.

Excerpt from Nightly News 7 Tasmania, 23 August 2004.