Diver springs back from brink

Steve Butler - The West Australian on May 15, 2016

A stargazing Perth teenager has fought off international derision for her diving failures to emerge as a leading Australian hope for the Rio Olympic Games in August.

Maddison Keeney, a quantum physics student who is fascinated by the universe, baulked on her final dive at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, costing her a gold medal in the 1m springboard event.

A year later she drew widespread mocking for her brittle nerves after all but falling off the board when vying for a medal at the World Aquatics Championships in Russia.

Now just nine days from her 20th birthday, Keeney gave evidence a fortnight ago to what she claims is a maturing mental toughness when she grabbed bronze in the fourth round of the FINA Diving World Cup Series at the same Russian venue as last year’s disaster.

“It just shows my development and how far I’ve come, really,” Keeney told The Weekend West from her base in Brisbane.

“Stuff happens, not everyone is perfect and I guess I got shoved into the limelight because it happened more than once.

“But I feel like I’ve matured a lot over the past year and that gives me confidence I can dive well now, even under pressure.

“I don’t really pay much attention to what people have to say and it doesn’t put me off.

“I take it all as experience and I’m still years younger than a lot of the other girls in my field.

“I’m making the most of my situation and taking positives from everything I do.

“I look at myself a year ago and look at myself now and just think how much I’ve grown and how much I’ve changed as an athlete and a person because of everything that’s happened.”

Keeney said she had been counselled on managing her nerves, prompting new techniques in breathing, concentration and “the process”.

“If you’ve got jelly legs, you’ve got jelly legs and there’s not too much you can do,” she said.

“So it’s just about knowing how to control yourself, calming down and knowing you’ve done the dives well a thousand times before.”

Keeney’s skinny stature as a 10-year-old prompted her mother Lorraine to suggest diving as a sporting pursuit. But the former Churchlands Senior High School student is also gifted academically. She has a penchant for physics and is eyeing a career in research.

“I’ve been fascinated with space and stuff since I was younger and we had a telescope in the backyard,” she said. “I’d always be out there seeing if I could find the planets and clusters.”

Keeney, coached by former Chinese Olympic diver Hui Tong, now faces a final selection meet in Melbourne next weekend, but is a strong chance to make the Australian team for her first Olympic Games.

She also hopes to compete in Rio in synchronised diving with Victorian Anabelle Smith.

“It’s really exciting and at the same time it’s really nerve-racking to have come this far,” she said.

“But I’m diving well and I just need to put my foot over the line.

“It would mean just everything, all my dreams. I’ve learnt never to count myself out and that anything can happen until the last diver dives.”