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Diving at the 1920 Summer Games: Next Summer Games
Host City: Antwerpen, Belgium
Venue(s): Antwerp Swimming Stadium, Antwerpen
Date Started: August 29, 1920
Date Finished: August 29, 1920
Format: 1 and 3 metre boards.
| Gold: |  Aileen Riggin |
| Silver: | Helen Wainwright |
| Bronze: | Thelma Payne |
Only four women, all Americans, entered the springboard event, and they obviously swept the medals. Aileen Riggin was the gold medalist, trailed by Helen Wainwright in second. On the day that event was held, Riggin was 14 years, 120 days old, while Wainwright was only 14 years, 168 days old. They were the youngest women ever to medal at the Olympics to that date. Riggin remains the second youngest gold medalist ever in diving, while Riggin and Wainwright still rate as the fifth and sixth youngest diving medalists ever among women Olympians. Riggin is still the fifth youngest individual gold medalist in Olympic history through 2000.
The women competed on the springboard with the same rules as the men. The divers had to perform compulsory and optional dives from both the one- and three-metre springboards. In addition, the divers were required to perform two dives drawn by lot, which were surprise dives disclosed to the contestants just before the competition so that they had no time to practice them. There were six compulsory dives, four voluntary dives, and two drawn dives. The required dives were as follows: #6 - forward dive, hand on sides on entry, header forward, running takeoff; #13 - back dive with half-twist; #26 - forward running 1½ pike; #34 - inward somersault pike; #37 - reverse dive, layout position, standing takeoff, hands on side at entry (also known as Auerbach or Isander); #46 - reverse dive, pike position, hands on side at entry. The voluntary dives had to be four dives from four different groups, with all ranging degree of difficulty from 1.7-2.0.
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | Medal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aileen Riggin | 13 | United States | USA | Gold | |
| 2 | Helen Wainwright | 14 | United States | USA | Silver | |
| 3 | Thelma Payne | 23 | United States | USA | Bronze | |
| 4 | Aileen Allen | 31 | United States | USA |
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