Brutal moment Sri Lankan diver misjudges jump and face-plants into water
A diver’s belly flop at the 2022 Commonwealth Games prompted gasps from the watching crowd and sympathy from the TV commentators.
Sri Lankan diver Dulanjan Kaushalya Fernando endured an unfortunate landing into the pool in the men’s one-metre springboard preliminary, mistiming a 2.5 somersault tuck to enter the pool horizontally. He was left gasping for air after landing on his front.
His dive was met with plenty of gasps and “ooooh”s as he hit the water, including from former GB athlete Leon Taylor in the commentary booth. “Just showing us how difficult this dive is and how difficult diving is,” the 2002 silver medal winner said amid a small chuckle, before adding: “That’s lucky it’s on the one metre because he’s winded.”
Fernando scored a pitiful one point, with the judges’ harsh marks for the 3.0 difficulty dive being greeted with boos from the crowd.
Fernando finished with a total score of 188.15 as the last and 11th overall diver. However, the Sri Lankan is still able to compete in Friday morning’s final as there are only 11 competitors in his category.