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Date of Birth: 12/3/81
Height: 168cm.
Weight: 57kg.
Pete started diving when he was nine-years-old. He was doing a couple of other sports at the time including judo, karate, football and  swimming.
His passion for diving began when he was watching the divers at the other end of the pool during his swimming training. He thought it looked more exciting than swimming and asked his Dad Jim if he could see if he could have a go.
Jim made some inquiries and Pete went on a diving summer camp and really enjoyed it. He went on to have a training session at Waltham Forest Diving Club. There he was spotted by diving coach Lindsey Fraser and together they began training at Crystal Palace.
Pete won his first medal and Lindsey said within three years he would be the junior European champion. He started competing in the national championships. At the nationals he achieved silver medals and eventually struck gold. Once he had been diving for three years he became the junior European champion just as Lindsey had predicted. Pete then went on to win junior world medals and around the same time he started to compete at senior level.
In 1994, synchronised diving became an official sport and Pete started diving with Leon Taylor from Sheffield.
Pete and Leon went on to win European and world medals, and came fourth in the Olympic Games in Sydney.
In 2002, Pete became the senior European champion, achieved a ranking of fourth in the world and scooped gold at the Commonwealth Games.
In 2004, Pete and Leon came second at the World Cup and they both qualified for the Olympics in Athens. At the Olympics Pete and Leon achieved the silver in the 10 metre synchronised diving event and Pete came fifth in the individual event.
Pete came fourth in the Men’s Individual one metre springboard event at the World Aquatics Championships in Rome in July, 2009, which was his first competition following an operation on his shoulder in November, 2008.
At the British Gas National Cup in Sheffield in February, 2010 Pete and his diving partner, Chris Mears, came first in the men’s three metre synchronised dive. Pete also won the men’s 10 metre synchronised dive with Max Brick and scooped the gold medal in the men’s 10 metre individual dive, beating world champion Tom Daley to first place by 40.05 points.
At the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) Diving Grand Prix in Germany, which also took place in February, Pete scooped a silver medal. He beat current Olympic champion, Matt Mitcham, who won the gold medal for Australia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in the semi-final and the final of the 10 metre individual platform event with a score of 510.20.
Although Pete has an Olympic silver medal, it is his dream to bring home a gold. Pete lives in Southampton with his wife Tania and their two young sons, Lewis and Marshall. |