Diving

The art of falling gracefully from the 3m springboard or 10m platform, Diving requires athletes to perform acrobatic rotations (forward, backward, reverse, inward, twisting) before entering the water with a "rip entry" (hands slicing the water like silk) to minimize splash. Dives have a Degree of Difficulty (DD, up to 3.9 for a 4.5 somersault), judges score from 0 to 10, and synchronized diving adds a "synchro score" for mirror-like precision, with the splash as the scorecard: the smaller the splash, the closer to perfection.