When Kurtis Mathews won the first NCAA diving championship for Texas A&M University in 2022, he walked away from his diving career feeling content.

It was in his fifth year of college in the United States and was a career defining moment.

In winning both the NCAA men’s 1m and 3m springboard events, he became the first Australian male to complete the feat.

“After the NCAA’s I thought ‘that’s a pretty good achievement’. I beat the Olympians from Tokyo,” Kurtis said. 

“I can now retire and be happy without having that accolade (of being an Olympian).” 

With this pinnacle achieved, and after having dived for five years in Texas, Kurtis made the decision to retire from the sport entirely.

He returned to Australia to play rugby union - a game he had loved as a kid.

As a child, he was interested in rugby and athletics and was determined to go to the Olympics.

It was when his childhood swim coach suggested that he and his twin sister try diving that their mother signed them up for a holiday diving program. 

“I was playing rugby and doing athletics and then me and my twin sister Jayah were learning how to swim, and the swim instructor, while teaching us how to dive-in, told us to go and try diving,” Kurtis said.

It wasn’t long before Kurtis and Jayah fell in love with the sport and moved from Perth to Melbourne and then to Brisbane to pursue their illustrious diving careers.

But on return from college, Kurtis found the satisfaction of playing rugby wasn’t the same as his passion for diving. 

His retirement was short-lived. 

A phone call to former teammate Kevin Chavers, a Rio 2016 Olympian in the same event, inspired him to give diving another try.

But coming back to the sport was not without challenge.

“Coming back was so hard,” Kurtis said.

“I was 90 kilos from playing rugby union, and I needed to trim back into diving shape which took ages.”

For Steve Foley, Diving Australia’s Performance Director, it was a return that showcased Kurtis’ dedication to his sport.

“In the span of a couple of months, you could see he got super serious,” Steve said.

Going into Paris 2024 and claiming the only Aussie diving spot for the 3m Springboard event, Kurtis is poised to put on a “World Class” performance.

“Kurtis is coming into the Games in top form…he can do great things at these Olympics.”

According to Steve, this is just the beginning for the 25-year-old, saying that if he continues on the avenue of success, he will only get more unstoppable, and in fact, “the best is yet to come”.

Kurtis’ will compete in the Men’s 3m Springboard competition, with preliminaries to start on Tuesday 6 August, 6pm AEST.

Mimi Sillar