Harnessing Talent Athlete

Leon Taylor - Olympic Medallist - Diving

Biography:

Leon was a hyperactive child and his parents were advised by doctors to channel his energy and enthusiasm into sport. As a result, he was introduced to swimming and gymnastics from the age of two and started diving as "just another sport" when he was eight. Three years later, Leon was under 12 national champion.

During a diving career spanning more than 20 years, Leon enjoyed sustained success at the highest level in both the synchronised and individual events from the 10m platform and achieved notable successes over an unusually long period for such a demanding sport.. He participated at 3 Olympic Games and was a member of the Great Britain team for 16 years. He is one of only a handful of divers to perform a backward 2 and ½ somersaults with 2 and ½ twists piked dive in competition. He invented it in 1998 and it is regarded as the hardest dive in the world.
Leon recovered from two separate shoulder surgeries to win a silver medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. In the diving events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, he won the Silver medal in the men's synchronised 10 metre platform, with partner Peter Waterfield. It was Britain's first Olympic diving medal since Brian Phelps in 1960. He had come fourth in the same competition in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. In addition, Leon has won medals at all major championships and is known throughout the sport for inventing the World's most difficult dive.

Other achievements include Bronze in the men's 10m platform at the 1998 Commonwealth Games (he had won Bronze in 1998), and bronze in the 10m synchro at the 1999 European LC Championships.

Although he had been planning to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics, he announced his retirement from competition in May, following a number of injuries. Indeed, he successfully recovered from hernia surgery in February but a chronic back injury flared up again to put paid to his hopes of competing. 

Click here to see his Competitive Record

Click here to see how Leon and DKH Legacy Trust are working together, and to find out about Leon's 'giving back to sport' activities