German dive team flips out at city’s high-class facilities
WHEN the German diving team attends the Rio Olympics next year it believes it’ll have a watertight advantage after an intense training camp at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre.
The eight athletes, including Olympic medallists Sascha Klein and Patrick Hausding, have been training since Monday at Southport ahead of next week’s FINA Diving Grand Prix, which will be attended by 70 divers from 10 countries.
It is hoped the Gold Coast could score a permanent annual round of the prestigious competition, which spectators can watch for just the price of entry into the pool.
Team Germany’s highperformance director Lutz Buschkow said he had decided to bring his squad to the Gold Coast early because Germany did not offer outdoor diving facilities, the likes of which they would encounter at Rio.
“You have a good pool and good dry land (gym) facilities,” he said.
“I think there’s a good possibility of having the competition here.
“At the end we will have one day free. I think we should go to the beach and Sea World.”
In the past couple of years since council enacted its City Sport Plan, 27 high-performance camps have been staged at the Gold Coast, injecting $2.4 million into the economy.
A council spokeswoman said the Commonwealth Games infrastructure was already being well used and the city also looked forward to hosting the 2017 World Team Badminton Championships.
Spectators are welcome to watch the FINA Diving Grand Prix, which starts on Thursday and runs until the following Sunday, from 10am to 5.30pm.