Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson win 'surreal' Olympic bronze

Team GB may have had to wait 64 years for a women’s Olympic diving medal but now they have claimed two in the space of five days – thanks to Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson.

Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen rewrote the record books on the opening day of Paris 2024 by claiming a bronze in the Women’s synchronised 3m springboard, paving the way for Spendolini-Sirieix and Toulson to take centre stage in the French capital.

They lived up to expectations by securing a bronze with a late, late show in the Women’s synchronised 10m platform on another memorable day for British diving.

The British duo secured their place on the podium with an outstanding final dive – their best of the competition – that yielded 77.76 points and made amends for a disappointing third round effort.

Spendolini-Sirieix and Toulson held off the challenge of Canada to finish with a points tally of 304.38, whilst Chinese pair Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan were runaway winners ahead of North Korea’s Jin Mi Jo and Mi Rae Kim.

Spendolini-Sirieix and Toulson’s success represented Team GB’s third diving medal of the Games, following Noah Williams and Tom Daley’s silver in the Men’s synchronised 10m platform and Harper and Mew’s heroics.

That third dive threatened to dash their hopes of medal glory but a solid penultimate round and then a well-executed final dive thrust them back into the reckoning.

They faced an anxious wait as the Canadian duo of Caeli McKay and Kate Miller went into their final dive knowing that a score of 73.32 would see them overtake the British pair, but they failed to rise to the challenge.

That sparked wild British celebrations and tears of joy from 19-year-old Spendolini-Sirieix and Toulson, who is at her third Games at the age of 24.

“We are so happy. We’ve worked so hard”

Both divers recognised that they had made life difficult for themselves with their third dive but backed themselves to get the job done.

Toulson said: “There was a blip in the middle with our third dive which is usually one of our strongest. We stayed confident and calm.”

Spendolini-Sirieix added: “We are so happy. We have worked so hard. I am sorry we gave everyone a hard time, but we always know how to close a competition.

“Having my family here and doing it alongside Lois is incredible. We’ve had a crazy two years and I feel as though I’ve grown so much alongside her, as a person and not just as an athlete and I’m so happy.”

Toulson admitted she was struggling to take in the magnitude of their achievement. “It’s a bit surreal to be honest,” she revealed. “This is my third Olympics and I’m so happy and proud that we’ve managed to get on the medal podium.”

The Paris success kept up a proud record for the pair, as Spendolini-Sirieix explained: “Every synchro competition we’ve done we’ve got a medal so, of course, it was possible (here). Being here now, as Lois said, is surreal.”

Both Spendolini-Sirieix and Toulson will resume their Olympic competition in the individual Women’s 10m Platform on Monday 5th August.