By Paul Martin at Centre Aquatique

Diver Jordan Houlden hailed the ‘life-changing’ impact of National Lottery funding after fulfilling a lifelong dream and making his Olympic debut.

The 26-year-old finished fourth in the preliminary round of the men’s 3m springboard competition in Paris, comfortably qualifying him for Wednesday’s semi-finals.

Houlden, who represents City of Sheffield Diving Club, is bidding to continue his progress through to the following day’s final and reckons he has only been able to make it to this stage because of the financial support made available to him.

“It has had a massive impact, it has helped me in so many ways,” said Houlden, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme.

“I am not a person who has come from a wealthy background so it has helped me keep going, getting to training and doing everything I can to stay on top of my game.

“It has been an emotional ride to get here. Trying to pay for a competition, it’s hard to do that for me. I can’t just fork out £1,000 for a competition.

“They’ve truly done a lot and changed my life, as well as my family’s life.”

Houlden is one of two City of Sheffield divers in the Team GB squad, along with Yasmin Harper.

Harper bagged Britain’s first medal in Paris alongside Scarlett Mew Jensen in the women’s 3m synchro and begins her own bid for individual glory in the preliminary round on Wednesday.

European silver medallist Houlden, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, was able to keep his nerves in check on his Olympic bow and scored 448.20 across his six dives, putting him a place behind teammate Jack Laugher in the standings.

The pair are looking to add to an impressive Games for Britain’s divers, with Houlden particularly pleased to finally be underway after sitting out the synchro events.

“I’ve been wanting to get going for quite a while,” he said.

“We have been in here for about two weeks, so it’s been long enough. Now we are going, it feels great.

“I’m quite a laid back and chilled guy. I did my normal thing, I play my games when I want to, I was just keeping calm and collected, doing my own stuff.

“I kept calm and relaxed. I just thought of it as another competition, I didn’t think of it as the Olympics. That turned it into my favour.”

National Lottery players raise more than £30million a week for Good Causes including vital funding into sport – from grassroots to elite. To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk