Diving at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games

The diving competition at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland counted a total number of four medal events: two events for both men and women. Diving took place at the purpose-built Royal Commonwealth Pool.

Canada performed the strongest at the event, winning 6 medals overall, including the gold and silver at both women's events. Canada missed out on a clean sweep of medals on the women's event by a small margin, with Australia's Gaye Morley beating Canada's Nancy Robertson on the 3m event by less than 4 points, while on the 10m event, Canada's Kathleen Rollo missed out on a bronze medal to England's Shelagh Burrow by just 0.3 points.^[2] All four girls were described as being "overcome by the tension" in what were emotional scenes. On winning the 3m event, Beverley Boys conveyed that she did not feel as confident in that event as she was feeling for the upcoming 10m tower event. Her total score of 432.87 in the 3m event was her highest ever achieved in an international competition.^[3]

Canada's overall performance at the event was praised by The Brandon Sun, who described the country as being a "dominant power in Commonwealth Games diving", following the second gold medal won by Beverley Boys.^[4] The 1970 women's diving event was the start of a gold medal winning streak for the Canadian team that would last until the 1982 Commonwealth Games,^[5] where Canadian women competitors had to settle for silver medals.

Don Wagstaff, who picked up gold in both of the men's events, became the first Australian man to win a gold medal in a springboard event at any previous Olympic or Commonwealth Games. Wagstaff was described as having given "the best exhibition of spring-board diving seen by an Australian", which was witnessed by his mum who had to save $1000 to travel to the games.^[6]

In each of the four events, competitors from the host country Scotland finished last.^[7][8][2]

  *   Host nation (Scotland)

Medals table by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Canada	2	3	1	6
2	Australia	2	0	1	3
3	England	0	1	2	3
Totals (3 entries)		4	4	4	12

Medal winners by event

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
	Athlete	Points	Athlete	Points	Athlete	Points
3 Metres Springboard Diving, Men	Don Wagstaff  Australia	557.73	Ken Sully  Canada	497.37	Ronald Friesen  Canada	495.9
10 Metres Highboard [Platform] Diving, Men	Don Wagstaff  Australia	485.73	Philip Drew  England	429.24	Andy Gill  England	421.47
3 Metres Springboard Diving, Women	Beverly Boys  Canada	432.87	Elizabeth Carruthers  Canada	391.2	Gaye Morley  Australia	389.04
10 Metres Highboard [Platform] Diving, Women	Beverly Boys  Canada	352.95	Nancy Robertson  Canada	350.49	Shelagh Burrow  England	330.63

3 metre springboard result, men^[7]

Rank	Name	Score
	Don Wagstaff (AUS)	557.73
	Ken Sully (CAN)	497.37
	Ronald Friesen (CAN)	495.90
4	Brian Wetheridge (ENG)	465.54
5	Joseph Thewlis (ENG)	464.79
6	Mark Gazley (NZL)	436.44
7	John Baker (ENG)	435.21
8	Maurice Campbell (SCO)	402.81

10 metre platform result, men^[8]

Rank	Name	Score
	Don Wagstaff (AUS)	485.73
	Philip Drew (ENG)	429.24
	Andy Gill (ENG)	421.47
4	Ken Sully (CAN)	401.31
5	Bob Eaton (CAN)	399.99
6	Ronald Friesen (CAN)	390.12
7	Maurice Campbell (SCO)	354.15

Result for women's 3 metre springboard^[9]

Rank	Name	Score
	Beverly Boys (CAN)	432.87
	Elizabeth Carruthers (CAN)	391.20
	Gaye Morley (AUS)	389.04
4	Nancy Robertson (CAN)	385.59
5	Madeleine Bollinger (AUS)	385.47
6	Alison Drake (ENG)	369.48
7	Una Ewart (MRI)	337.74
8	Ann McCarroll (SCO)	292.05

Result for women's 10 metre platform^[10]

Rank	Name	Score
	Beverly Boys (CAN)	361.95
	Nancy Robertson (CAN)	350.49
	Shelagh Burrow (ENG)	330.63
4	Kathleen Rollo (CAN)	330.33
5	Madeleine Bollinger (AUS)	321.72
6	Jane Hamilton (WAL)	308.70
7	Gaye Morley (AUS)	306.93
8	Jennifer Emery (SCO)	261.15

Citations

Sources

• Groom, Graham (2017). The Complete Book of the Commonwealth Games. ISBN 9780244940317.