By Tom Harle

Anthony Harding had to conquer his fear of the toughest dive in the world to win an Olympic bronze medal.

The Ashton-under-Lyne star joined forces with Jack Laugher to claim bronze from a thrilling 3m synchro contest in which China won gold by a slender margin from Mexico. 

Harding’s medal on Olympic debut means that Team GB have reached the podium in all four synchro events and have their biggest-ever haul of diving medals with individual events still to come. 

The 24-year-old has come a long way since being scared of the sport when he first tried it at Oldham Leisure Centre.

“The first session I was crying, ‘don’t push me off that board’,” said Harding, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games. 

“It is thanks to everyone, Oldham, Leeds, the pathway I’ve come through with the National Lottery. This is such a relief for me.”

After Leeds’ Matty Lee and Tom Daley denied them a full house of five gold medals in Tokyo, China doubled down on a clean sweep in Paris.

Daoyi Long and Wang Zongyuan began strongly off the 3m board but murmurs rang around the Aquatics Centre when they lost top spot heading into the final two rounds. 

Mexico’s Celaya Hernandez and Olvera Ibarra assumed a slender 0.24-point advantage, with only ten points separating the top four at that stage. 

That was when Laugher and Harding took on the ‘triple out’, the hardest dive of them all with no nation exceeding its difficult value of 3.9. 

For Laugher, it’s a secret weapon that has helped make him Britain’s most successful ever diver but for Harding, it has been nothing short of a bete noire. 

Harding has struggled to master it, failing to execute it at February’s World Championships, so much so that they moved it from the sixth round to the fifth a few weeks before the Games.

“It is Jack’s strongest dive so it’s a no-brainer, it has to be there,” said Harding.

 

“I’ve worked hard with my weights coach to get stronger. The triple out, it’s very difficult to get the adrenalin to do it in training.

“It’s even more of a relief, knowing the potential of what this could be and it slipping away if you’re struggling. That’s what it felt like - but now it’s done, and I feel so much relief.”

Laugher and Harding’s score of 85.41 on the triple out was the second-highest score of the round across the board and helped cement their position. 

“It’s normally a good dive for me and Anthony has had a struggle with it,” said Laugher. “Anthony’s dive was better than mine in the final, and I’m really, really proud of him for how he has achieved that. We knew something needed to change.”

Italy’s Lorenzo Marsaglia and Giovanni Tocci struggled down the stretch to ensure the Brits had a comfortable grip on bronze and by a margin of 35.1 points. 

A gripping tussle between China and Mexico, who have not won a gold medal in diving since 1956, went right down to the wire with the former retaining their title by a mere 2.1 points. 

Laugher believes the support system powered by the National Lottery is Team GB’s only chance of getting closer to the all-conquering Chinese.

“China have unbelievable training facilities and the UK, what we’ve got is amazing too,” said Laugher. 

“We have a wonderful performance centre and the National Lottery has changed things overnight. All the funding that goes into us as athletes gets us 1% closer to them. We are close, they are gettable and we’ll keep trying every single day.”

Both Laugher and Harding were coy on the prospects of this synchro pairing continuing through to LA 2028.

“I’m going to carry on,” said Harding. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next four years. I hope to do another Olympics.

“I’m not hopeful for anything, I’m just so happy that I’ve got a medal around my neck, and I can retire early if I want.”

With more than £30M a week raised for Good Causes, including vital funding into elite and grassroots sport, National Lottery players support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes to live their dreams and make the nation proud, as well as providing more opportunities for people to take part in sport.  To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk