Dom Bedggood has gone from strength to strength since making the switch from gymnastics to diving at the age of sixteen. Since that time, Bedggood has landed himself two Commonwealth Games gold medals, appeared at the 2015 and 2017 FINA World Championships and has become a finalist at an Olympic Games. Bedggood took some time to talks about transitioning from gymnastics, training alongside Diving Australia legends and competing a new event.

How did you first get into diving?

Bedggood – I had a pretty horrific gymnastics accident on the high bar which caused two stress fractures on the left side of my back and one on my right. So that forced me to look elsewhere for sport and I had known Ethan (Warren) for a really long time.

That transition must have been interesting at that age, what were the easiest and hardest parts of making the move?

Bedggood – There wasn’t really any easy parts because gymnastics was such a huge part of my life. I had been doing it for ten plus years and I had never imagined myself doing another sport. The only somewhat easy part was the fact that both gymnasts and diving are areal awareness sports and I was a very good tumbler, so my acrobatic work was really fine tuned. But trying to disconnect from the emotional connection to gymnastics, and trying to put that into diving, took a bit of time for me and my family because we invested so much into gymnastics together.

You found yourself pretty quickly onto the national teams, what was it like being part of that group of such well-established divers?

Bedggood – I think it was one of the key reasons that I developed so quickly, because I was surrounded by such world class divers immediately, so the hard work began straight away. Ethan was there, you had people like Sharleen (Stratton), Anabelle (Smith), James (Connor) and Brittany (Broben). Brisbane had a really strong senior based group, it was a real powerhouse of talent that I was training around every day. That kind of forces you to get into their mentality of training, so there is really no room to slack off, they are setting the pace and you need to keep up.

Since landing your spot on the National Squad, what has been your fondest memory?

Bedggood – It would have to be the Commonwealth Games that we just had. That team was one of the best groups that I have ever been a part of and also because we all got to share a home games together. Apart from Mel (Wu), it was everyone’s first home games experience and it was a team that was very well meshed together. The morale of the team was one that felt much stronger especially with the coaching staff that was around us, so the comradery around that team was stronger than I had felt at previous competitions.

Those Commonwealth Games were in your home town, how was that experience for you?

Bedggood - For me it was literally at home-home, I was born 20 minutes down the road so the build up to it was really fun, I was thrown into the limelight so to speak. I was going around and doing various talks to sponsors, dinners, and promoting the games, it was something that I had never been a part of before. It was really nice but at the same time it was a little bit daunting with the pressure of it being the home-home child of the games for diving and one of the contenders in the men’s 10m. So, the lead up was fun but also nerve racking. As we got closer I kind of just learned to relish in the moment and not worry about any of the external pressures around me, and just focus on what I could control. It is something that I will never experience again so it will stay with me forever.

You took home gold in the men’s platform synchro back in Glasgow in 2014 alongside Olympic Champion Matt Mitcham, this year you took gold on your own. What does that mean for you?

Bedggood – With Olympic sports, it’s such a long time between competitions so there is this huge waiting gap, it’s not like a rugby team where they are competing week-to-week. We have an enormous time to grow as athletes, it can either be in a good way or a bad way. So, the success from Glasgow was a pivotal moment in my diving career because it kind of showed me that what I wanted was capable, it gave me that drive and motivation to go to the next Commonwealth Games and hopefully better the results that I got in Glasgow. To take that gold at my first games with Mitcham was a pretty high start and was something that fueled that extra drive to wanting it myself. As the years went on, it became more of a realistic goal for me, for me it felt more attainable as I put in more work. I wasn’t expecting to win gold, I was just going out there to put six dives the best I could, and it was just fortunate that I did enough to win that event.

A relatively new event for you has been the 3m synchro event, what has that switch from platform to springboard been like?

Bedggood – We decided to try that after World Championships last year. As a whole that event in Budapest was a really down period, nothing really went well. We had a great preparation, but the competition itself went nowhere near as what my coach Ady (Hincliffe) and I had planned. Coming off the back of that I wasn’t that happy or cheerful, and we had a synchro camp at the end of 2017. There has been a bit of a gap as a whole in the men’s 3m synchro pairing since Beijing, we haven’t had a men’s synchro pairing since those games so I kind of threw my hat in the ring. Kevin (Chavez) was injured, James was based in America so it was hard for him to train with anyone, and (Matt) Carter and myself were both Australian based. I felt that I could adapt myself to him really well, he is obviously a really talented kid with huge dives and I thought I would just give it a crack and see where it took us. It helps that Carter and I have a really close relationship, it’s kind of like a big brother, little brother relationship even though he is almost twice the size of me. He was a fantastic leader in that pairing and we had nothing to lose and everything to gain giving it a crack. I told Ady that I was taking this seriously and he said, ‘look mate, it’s going to be double the work and if you’re ready for that I will come along on this journey with you.’

We are now 2 years out from Tokyo 2020, what needs to happen between now and then to ensure your best result possible?

Bedggood – It’s an everyday problem looking too far forward. I think the most important thing for myself is the constant day-to-day growth with my coach and support team around me. We have such a fantastic support team that we have just recently started utilizing in the last year, we have Andrew(McGough) our physio, Tess (Prince) our massage therapist, our nutritionist Sally (Garrard) and the newest member, psychologist Gemma (Harangozo), who has been a huge influence on me. I definitely take my hat off to them, a lot of the success that I have had this year is because of them. I need to continuously work with each of those individuals and listening closely to my coach, because he has been there and done this, so he knows how to get the best possible results out of his athletes.

Do you have any advice for young divers or people who are interested about getting into the sport?

Bedggood – I used to compare myself to other divers and other successful people, but I think if you chase something that isn’t yourself, you might find that It is a very hollow and empty accomplishment when you get there. The thing that has kind of switched on for me this year is that I just need to be better than I was yesterday and that’s the only thing that I can compare myself to each and every day. If you look to someone for motivation it can throw you backwards, because you might never obtain what they have, the only thing that matters is what you’re doing. You just need to stick to your own process and focus on what you’re doing.