Anthony Harding conquers fear of world's hardest dive to claim Olympic bronze
manchestereveningnews.co.ukAnthony 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.
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