Former Olympic silver medallist Leon Taylor hailed a “coming of age” moment for Team GB’s female divers following their success at the World Championships.
Team GB earned their first ever World Championship diving medal in a women’s event on Sunday when Lois Toulson and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix took silver in the 10 metres synchro in Fukuoka.
Their historic success in Japan was replicated just 24 hours later when Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen earned silver in the three metres synchro and Taylor believes it is a “breakthrough moment” for Team GB’s female divers.
“It’s the first ever time our female athletes have won a World Championship medal, then it was backed up today by a wonderful effort in the three metre by Yasmin and Scarlett,” he told the PA news agency.
“The silvers for the girls has been incredible, back-to-back silvers at a World Championships having never stood on the podium before as female athletes for GB.
“For me it’s a coming of age for GB female diving because it’s been on the cards for a while, this is a real breakthrough moment, the statistics speak for themselves.
“It just fills me with excitement ahead of next year, but of course we’ve got to be careful not to get too excited because there’s a process and jobs to be done.
“The team are doing a beautiful job in Fukuoka so we couldn’t have asked for a better start.”
Spendolini-Sirieix, daughter of TV personality Fred Sirieix, earned two gold medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, while partner Toulson secured two silvers in Birmingham as Team England took 15 medals in total at the competition.
The duo have been competing together for just under a year and have already enjoyed success, claiming a European 10m synchro gold medal in Rome last year.
The World Championship silvers secure a spot at next year’s Olympics in Paris and it comes following a triumphant period for Team GB’s divers.
“Peter (Waterfield) and I, nearly 20 years ago now, we won the first Olympic medal in British diving for 44 years and that was a breakthrough moment,” Taylor added.
“Then you’ve got the Tom Daley effect and Jack (Laugher) and their success, when it comes to major medals, it has been tilted heavily towards the men’s and the boys’ side of the sport.
“But the women have always been there, the potential has always been there and it’s just blossoming now.
“It couldn’t be more exciting with what they’ve achieved, the timing, the fact that we’ve got not quite a home Olympics, but it’s close just over the pond in Paris, a year away.
“The celebration that we had in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games across men’s and women’s success was magnificent and now it’s being replicated on the world stage.”
Taylor secured silver alongside Waterfield at Athens 2004 in the Men’s 10 metre synchronised platform after narrowly missing out on a podium place at Sydney 2000 and the 45-year-old admitted it was “incredible” to fulfill his ambition.
Taylor said: “I was lucky enough to compete at three and at my third Olympics, 20 years after watching the Olympics on the TV and the start of my dream, I realised that ambition to stand on the podium to win an Olympic medal was incredible.
“For me the reflection is the support I had along the way, because that moment in time even though I was stood next to my team-mate it wasn’t just about me or us, it was about everything that had been contributed.
“All the way back to my parents and all the sacrifices they made, I feel very fortunate I was at the beginning of this wonderful era in sport where the National Lottery funding came in at the beginning of my career.”
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