Spendolini-Sirieix says ‘it wasn’t meant to be’ but result ‘pushes me to be hungrier’

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix finished sixth in the Women’s 10m Platform final after a solid five rounds of diving at the Paris Aquatic Centre, but says that the result has made her ‘hungrier’.

The 19-year-old improved on her previous Olympic outing in Tokyo where she finished in seventh place to move up in both the standings and her overall points total this time around.

After a high quality final which saw her face some tough opposition, Spendolini-Sirieix scored a total of 345.50 points.

The British diver started strongly and opened her account with an Armstand Back Double Somersault 1½ Twists in round one.

The dive, which sat at 3.2 degree of difficulty, was executed well and earned a score of 76.80 from the judges.

From there, Spendolini-Sirieix produced three solid dives but was just under the standard she set in the semi-final to qualify in third and as a result, dropped down the leaderboard in the middle rounds.

Her Inward 3½ Somersaults in tuck scored 62.40, the Forward 3½ Somersaults in pike was awarded 64.50 and her Reverse 2½ Somersaults in tuck saw a score of 60.20.

However, Andrea ended her Olympic final on a high with a fantastic Back 2½ Somersaults 1½ Twists in pike which scored 81.60 – the joint highest score of the final round.

Despite not clinching an individual medal this time, she will still take home an Olympic bronze medal following her success in the Women’s Synchronised 3m Springboard alongside Lois Toulson.

After her final, Spendolini-Sirieix was overrun with emotion as she explained that it just ‘wasn’t meant to be’ but that it ‘doesn’t change who I am’.

Pushes me to be hungrier

She said: “Obviously it wasn’t the result that I wanted but I’m not even upset with the competition, the girls dove amazing.

“They dove better than me today and it’s because they work really hard – and it wasn’t meant to be.

“I’m not upset with my performance. Three years ago, I didn’t even want to be alive so today I’m just happy that I’m alive, I’m breathing and I’ve got my family to support me.

“My mum was like ‘just keep smiling, we’re proud of you, we’re here to see you’ and at the end of the day, that’s all I could ask for.

“I’m so happy to be here, to be at the Olympic Games. It’s been a really long year and it doesn’t take away from my accomplishments this year.

“Missing out on one medal doesn’t change who I am. I think it was God’s way of saying we’ve still got a lot more to do.

“It just pushes me to be hungrier and means I’ve got a lot more that I need to work on.

“Not getting the medal today doesn’t take away from the medal that I have received and the achievements that I’ve had the past three years.

“I feel I’ve grown as a human being not just as an athlete, and I think that is the most valuable thing that diving has ever given me.

“I’m just so thankful for the support that I’ve received and for the community I’ve built around diving – I couldn’t be here without that.”