Diving factbox for Athens 2004

ATHENS, July 8 (Reuters) -- Factbox on diving at the August 13-29 Athens Olympics:

HISTORY

Diving from a platform or a cliff can be traced back to ancient Egypt and Rome. Modern diving as a sport has its origins in the 19th century when an acrobatic element was introduced.

Diving joined the Olympics in St Louis in 1904, as a men's sport using a rigid platform. Four years later, in London, the springboard event was introduced and women's diving made its debut in Stockholm in 1912.

Synchronised diving was added to the Olympic programme in Sydney in 2000.

EVENTS

Men's and women's competitions in 10-metre platform and three-metre springboard plus synchronised diving from the 10m platform and the three-metre springboard.

2000 CHAMPIONS

Men

Three-metre springboard: Ni Xiong (China)

Platform: Liang Tian (China)

Synchronised 3m springboard: Xiao Hailiang/Xiong Ni (China)

Synchronised platform: Igor Loukachine/Dmitri Saoutine (Russia)

Women

Springboard: Mingxia Fu (China)

10m platform: Laura Wilkinson (U.S.)

Synchronised 3m springboard: Vera Ilina/Ioulia Pakhalina (Russia)

Synchronised 10m platform: Li Na/Sang Xue (China)

OLYMPIC PROGRAMME

August 14: Women's synchronised 3m springboard final

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Men's synchronised 10m platform final

August 16: Women's synchronised 10m platform final

Men's synchronised 3m springboard final

August 20: Women's 10m platform preliminaries

August 21: Women's 10m platform semi-finals

August 22: Women's 10m platform final

August 23: Men's 3m springboard preliminaries

August 24: Men's 3m springboard semi-finals

Men's 3m springboard final

August 25: Women's 3m springboard preliminaries

August 26: Women's 3m springboard semi-finals

Women's 3m springboard final

August 27: Men's 10m platform preliminaries

August 28: Men's 10m platform semi-finals

Men's 10m platform final

VENUE

Olympic Aquatic Centre at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex

in Maroussi. Diving will be held at the indoor pool which has

seats for 5,757 spectators.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

www.fina.org

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