Will it be third time's the charm for Korean diver Woo Ha-ram?

Olympic Sports

Published: 17 Jul. 2024, 16:08

Will it be third time's the charm for Korean diver Woo Ha-ram?

Woo Ha-ram competes during the men's 3m springboard final at the World Aquatics Championships 2024 in Doha, Qatar on Feb. 7. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

Six divers will represent Korea at the 2024 Paris Olympics, setting a new record for the most berths the country has earned in the sport as they continue the campaign for Korea’s first diving medal.

And Woo Ha-ram, who finished fourth in men’s 3-meter springboard at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — the best-ever finish at the Games by a Korean diver — is headed back to the board.

Diving will run from July 27 to Aug. 10, with competitors diving from either a 3-meter springboard or a 10-meter platform.

Kim Su-ji performs in the women's 1m springboard at the Hangzhou Asian Games in Hangzhou, China on Oct. 2. [NEWS1]

While there are both individual and synchronized competitions, Korean divers have only qualified for the individual events.

Woo will be fighting for a spot on the podium in 3-meter springboard after qualifying through the 2024 World Aquatics Championships. He’ll be joined in the event by Yi Jae-gyeong, who earned his spot through reallocation.

Kim Yeong-taek, who was also at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is returning in the men’s 10-meter platform with Shin Jeong-hwi, another reallocated spot.

Among the women, Kim Su-ji will represent Korea in the 3-meter springboard after winning bronze at the world championships in Qatar.

Kim Na-hyun will compete in women’s 10-meter platform.

In springboard events, divers jump high in the air to perform maneuvers while the 10-meter start, otherwise known as the high dive, has divers complete their routine as they fall.

The Olympic Aquatic Center in Saint-Denis, outside Paris [AP/YONHAP]

Divers earn points from aesthetics, the complexity of the dive and how smoothly they enter the water.

The individual events consist of three different rounds: Preliminary, semifinal and final. Men perform six dives per round while women perform five.

The preliminary rounds cull the diving group to 18 competitors, which leads to the semifinal round where six more divers are removed.

The final alone determines the medal winners of the diving event for the Olympics.

In recent history, Chinese divers have dominated the sport, winning 12 out of the 24 medals in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.