QIN BURSTS INTO DIVING SPOTLIGHT

For so long Esther Qin has been the diver who fills a minor placing at major Australian dive meets, the shy Chinese-born diver whose name could well have been ‘Potential Qin’, so often was it spoken.

Esther Qin is no longer that diver. The cork has been taken out of the bottle, the genie released – we can still talk about her potential, because what we saw in Glasgow on Saturday night may well be just the start of it.

22-year-old Qin held her nerve where in the past she would have faltered. Where previously the sight of the finish line may have caused her to baulk, this time it made her stronger.

As other world-class divers in the 3-metre final, and there were plenty in that category, buckled under pressure, Qin tightened her grip.

She’ll get better scores than the 347.25 that won her gold on Saturday, simply because from now on Qin will believe she can.

“I was so nervous when I came to compete, especially my reverse,” Qin told the media later.

“I just can’t think if I miss a dive, I’m out of the top three. I’m relieved. I was so happy.”

Qin comes away from Glasgow with the 3-metre gold and a 1-metre bronze, but even more importantly for Diving Australia, the winning know-how you can’t teach divers.

Maddison Keeney also comes away from Glasgow with two medals, and the knowledge she has what it takes to live up to the hype that now surrounds her.

Two crucial mistakes cost the 18-year-old dearly. A baulk in the 1-metre undoubtedly cost her gold, and clipping the board in the 3-metre robbed her of a medal – colour undetermined (she finished fourth).

A silver in the 1-metre and bronze in the 3-metre synchro with Anabelle Smith is not to be sneezed at, but there’s a feeling, including from Keeney herself, that it was good to get this one out of the way.

But for one dive, Smith may well have been pushing for a podium as well. Everyone knows how good the Victorian is, and while she now has to share the springboard spotlight, it will only make her stronger and more determined.

Matthew Mitcham leaves Glasgow with what he came for – a Commonwealth Games gold medal. He now has to decide if he wants to keep diving, and maybe that might be determined by what he dreams of on the long flight home.

If his thoughts are occupied by his next stage show, it may be tough to get him back. But if he dreams of that moment, when he and partner Domonic Bedggood waltzed around the Edinburgh pool deck, then Rio here he comes.

He’s already indicated he could keep diving, but with a reduced workload. This might mean becoming a synchro specialist.

Giving young Bedggood another two years exposure to a diver of Mitcham’s experience may be a carrot too tasty to ignore.