Maddi Keeney continues to push the envelope in springboard diving and as such is without-a-doubt one of the sports most watched athletes. The World Champion and Olympic Medalist took some time to talk about getting over mental barriers, expectations heading into a major competition and working outside the pool.

How did you first get into the sport?

I used to do a lot of sports when I was younger and so when I was 10, my mum decided to sign me up with the learn to dive program after school. Diving was just one of the sports that I tried out when I was younger, nothing special.

You’re a diver who continues to push the envelope in terms of what is capable. How do you view yourself in that role?

I only really take notice because people mention it to me, or say, ‘when are you learning this dive,’ and all that. For me it’s just the natural progression of my own diving and something that I want to achieve for myself rather than doing it for other people. But, I guess more recently I’ve been more conscious of it in terms of taking that step for women’s diving. I think it’s important that there is someone there that is trying to make a difference and I hope that I can be that person.

As you continue to try new things you must face major hurdles in your training. How do you get over those?

It’s kind of a hard one, because before I learned reverse-three-and-a-half (307C), I hadn’t learned a dive in about five years and I’m not really the bravest person out there. You kind of just need to focus on your experience and the process, and obviously my coach is a huge influence on that because I trust him more than anything. If he is willing to put me in that situation and push me, then I want to push myself to reach that goal.

Talk me through what it meant for you to win the World Championships last year?

That experience was the end of a two-year experience that began with the 2015 World Championships where I failed a dive in the final and with it, gathered a fair bit of bad media attention. I thought that if I can’t handle myself in a completion setting, how can I achieve anything. In the end, that experience of failing was one of the most important lessons in my diving career, because it really taught me how to approach my training and my competitions. It made me take a step back and really evaluate it. So, winning in 2017 was a big sigh of relief that showed me how much I had grown and how much I have achieved in those two years.

Then of course another of your major achievements was talking bronze in Rio with Anabelle Smith. What was your feeling heading into that competition?

We have always been up there with the other teams, so I think no matter how the results would have gone in 2016, the second and third places would have been between Australia, Canada and Italy. I don’t think it would have been strange to see any of us up there on the podium. It had been a long journey for us, we had often been pipped at the post or we would never quite get it. We knew we could do it, but actually doing it was a huge step for us.

When it comes to three-meter women’s diving in Australia there is a fair bit of mixing and matching with pairing especially with yourself, Esther Qin and Anabelle Smith. What strengths does that bring to the team?

It just gives the team so much flexibility. As we saw this year, I’ve been out with injuries and I haven’t been able to dive, but because we can mix and match there hasn’t been a problem with the Australian synchro pairing. In terms of if we need to qualify for something, or even taking home medals, it just brings so much strength to the whole squad.

Outside of the pool you work as a systems engineer. How do you balance that commitment with your training?

For me education has always been really important and something that I personally enjoy. I think that for me it is really great, if all I did was training I would go absolutely crazy. It’s really important to find that balance, being able to switch off from aspect of your life is not a bad thing.

What needs to happen between now and 2020 to ensure your best result in Tokyo?

This year was a bit of a flat tire because I couldn’t really do that much in terms of training and preparing my new dives. So, 2019 is kind of going to be 2018, 2.0, with competing in World Series and trying out my new dives. It is all going to be about getting my constancy and confidence back and hopefully we can just do our best in the lead up to 2020.

What advice do you have for young divers?

I think it is really important to giving your attention to detail and knowing that all the exercises that you are doing are for a reason. I look back and think, ‘wow, that was actually really helpful.’