Olympian Julia Vincent hopes diving will grow in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG – Olympian Julia Vincent hopes diving will continue to grow in South Africa.

Vincent will be competing at her third Olympic Games after qualifying for Paris at the 2023 World Championships.

“My hope for the future of diving in South Africa is for it to just continue to grow. I'm hoping that we can bring more awareness, and I'm going to do everything I can. I don't know if I'll be living in South Africa, but I'm going to do everything that I can to come back."

The athlete has represented South Africa at two previous Olympic Games and completed her studies in the US. Vincent now lives and coaches part-time in Kentucky while concluding her diving career.

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“I've been given so many, so many great opportunities in this country, and a lot of people have given me their knowledge, and I hope to pass that on to divers in South Africa, and just to get them excited about being good at something, even if it's not diving in the long run, but just to get them excited and passionate about doing something big with their lives.”

The American-based athlete tells Eyewitness News that diving is huge in the United States compared to South Africa due to access to resources, adding that there are more people interested in the sport.

“There are more resources as a whole and more money is put into diving in the US. To put it into perspective, the club dive team that I coach in Kentucky has more divers than all the divers that attended SA Nationals this year. The United States is a much bigger country, so it makes sense, but there is a much greater interest in the sport compared to the interest in South Africa.”

Vincent says the ability to train all-year round would be a game-changer for South Africa.

“I just wish we could find the funding to build a pool that has indoor diving facilities, because then we, all the divers in the country, could dive indoors for the wintertime, whereas right now, they get to dive for six, seven months, and then then it's too cold and so they have to stop diving and take that time off.”

The 29-year-old represented South Africa at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Ahead of her Paris competition, she tells Eyewitness News the most important goal she has is to just take it one dive at a time.

"I think that the biggest thing I want to bring from those two experiences to my third Olympics is just being able to not try to be perfect all the time. I think sometimes in my mind, I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I want to be perfect all the time and I think sometimes that's played against me."

The mental side of sport is something that Vincent understands.

 "Making sure that your mind is right is the most important thing in my opinion, being able to learn how to handle a situation but also having clarity in your mind and having a positive outlook is very important to make sure you can compete the way you want to compete."