Matthew Mitcham, Champion Platform Diver

Born on March 2, 1988 in Brisbane, Queensland, Matthew John Mitcham is an Australian diver, who took the 2008 Olympic championship for the 10-meter platform, receiving the highest single-dive score in Olympic history. He is the first male diver from Australia to win gold in diving in the Olympics since Dick Eve, who won it at the Summer Olympics in 1924.

Originally competed as a trampoline gymnast, Mitcham was spotted by the Australian Institute of Sport Diving Program coach Wang Tong Xiang while at the Chandler Aquatic Centre in the suburbs of Brisbane. He continued with both trampolining and diving for several years, where he represented Australia as a trampolinist at the World Junior Championships in 1999 and 2001, winning the double mini-tramp event. He also finished 6^th at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in 2003.

From 2002 to 2008, Mitcham won several titles in many diving events, including the silver medals in the 1-meter, 3-meter synchronized and 10-meter platform events at the World Junior Championships. During the Junior Nationals in 2004, he took the 1-meter, 3-meter, and 10-meter and 3-meter synchronized diving titles, and in 2005, he won his first senior national title. He won the silver medal in the 1-meter event with a score of 508.35 at the Australian Olympic Youth Festival, where he also took the 3-meter, 10-meter and 3-meter synchronized diving with Scott Robertson. He won the 1, 3 and 10-meter individual events at the Australian Nationals in 2008, and later that year, the Diving Grand Prix event in Florida.

Following his win at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Mitcham took 4^th place in the 10-meter platform at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships in Rome.

Aside from competing, Mitcham was a judge for the “Celebrity Splash!”, an Australian diving show, alongside Greg Louganis and Alisa Camplin. In 2015, he appeared in a reality show on Seven Network as a contestant in the “Dancing with the Stars” 15^th season.