Matthew Mitcham

At  the  recent  2008  Beijing  Olympic  Games,  Matthew  Mitcham  performed  the  single  greatest  dive  in  Olympic  history  to become the first Australian male to win an Olympic gold medal in diving since Dick Eve at the 1924 Summer Olympics.

Originally a trampoline gymnast, Matthew was discovered by the Australian Institute of Sport Diving Program and from 2002
through 2004, was a national junior champion in diving. He competed at the 2002 World Junior Diving Championships and in
2004, he won silver medals in the 1m, 3m synchronized, and 10m platform events at the World Junior Championships. At the
2004 Junior Nationals, he won the 1m, 3m, and 10m and 3m synchro titles.

In  what  was  a  remarkable  10m  platform  final,  Matthew  entered  the  final  round  of  dives  in  second  place,  34  points  behind Chinese diver Zhou Luxin. An extremely difficult assignment, Matthew needed to score 107.30 to claim gold. Matthew lined up for his final dive and performed it with precision, scoring four perfect ten's from the judges to achieve a score of 112.10, the  highest  single-dive  score  in  Olympic  history.  Matthew's  win  prevented  China  from  claiming  a  clean-sweep  of  all  diving gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games.

In 2005, Matthew won his first senior national title and the following year he represented Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Taking a break from the sport in 2006, he returned in 2007 and started to train under current coach Chava Sobrino at the New South Wales Institute of Sport. This year Matthew won the 1m, 3m and 10m individual events at the Australian Nationals to qualify for his first Olympic Games.

Since winning Olympic gold Matthew has attracted many fans with his maturity, good looks, modesty and friendly personality and will continue to be a star attraction for Australia as he works towards the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2012 London Olympics.