Fun facts about U.S. Olympic divers

Diving - Credit: Getty Images

Diving – Credit: Getty Images

Ten U.S. divers will compete in seven events during the Paris Olympics. Here’s a look at all the divers who will represent Team USA, and a few fun facts about them.

Sarah Bacon

Kassidy Cook and Sarah bacon pound fists
If pre-competition favorites Kassidy Cook (left) and Sarah Bacon are to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, they’ll have to do so in comeback fashion.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images

Sarah Bacon will make her Olympic debut at 27 years old. She’ll compete in both the women’s 3M springboard and the synchronized springboard competitions.

Fun facts

  • Bacon was planning to retire from competitive diving after the 2020 Tokyo Games, but decided to keep competing after missing a spot on that year’s team.

    “I was going into the Tokyo Olympic trials feeling ready and confident, but other things got in our way of making that team, which was pretty devastating,” Bacon said in a pre-Paris press conference. “Not making the team kept me around diving, and now I am an Olympian… I’m just so excited to be here.”

  • Bacon has also used multiple injuries throughout her career as motivation. She’s had four back fractures, two concussions, an Achilles injury, and two shoulder surgeries, and said doctors have told her in the past she may not return after an injury. She said in a 2021 interview she told doctors, “I’m going to come back stronger than I was before, and mentally tougher than I was before just to prove you wrong.”
  • Alongside teammate Kassidy Cook, who she’ll compete with in the synchro event in Paris, the duo have adopted the nickname “Team Cook’N Bacon”.

SEE MORE: Diver Andrew Capobianco talks twin life

Andrew Capobianco

Carson Tyler and Andrew Capobianco after competing in the men's 3m springboard final during the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials  in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Carson Tyler and Andrew Capobianco after competing in the men’s 3m springboard final during the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Getty Images

Andrew Capobianco is the top American competing in the men’s 3m springboard event. He finished 10th in the event at the Tokyo Olympics, the same Games he won silver in the synchro springboard. The 24-year-old is heading to Paris just seven months after having surgery on his knee. 

Fun facts

  • Capobianco is a former Junior Olympic national title holder in gymnastics.
  • He is a 3-time NCAA champion in the 3m springboard for Indiana University. 
  • He is also a coach at a junior diving club in Indiana as a way to get young athletes interested in the sport.
  • “It’s been fun. Sometimes after a hard day of practice, you know, I’m pretty down and sometimes I’m like, ‘diving, why did I choose this sport?’ And then I go and I see how excited they are to be there,” Capobianco said of coaching in a 2024 interview. “It kind of revives my love for the sport a little bit.”

SEE MORE: Cook and Bacon clinch 3m synchro Olympic team spot at U.S. Diving Trials

Kassidy Cook

Kassidy Cook and Sarah Bacon will represent the United States in the women's synchro 3m springboard competition at the Paris Olympics.
Kassidy Cook and Sarah Bacon will represent the United States in the women’s synchro 3m springboard competition at the Paris Olympics.
Getty Images

Kassidy Cook will compete alongside Bacon in the women’s synchro 3m springboard finals. This is her second Olympics after finishing 13th in the individual 3m springboard at the 2016 Rio Games.

Fun facts

  • Cook has a dog named Cooper, who she called “a certified good boy” (We agree!). She adopted him in 2022, around the same time she decided to start training for diving again after taking a year-and-a-half break following a shoulder injury that kept her out of the 2020 Games.

    “He has been with me on my athletic journey ever since, cheering me on, always greeting me at the door, and comforting me on hard training days,” Cook said of Cooper on her Instagram.

  • Cook retired from diving and began working as a remote healthcare recruiter following the Tokyo Games, but she quit her job and began training again in April 2023.
  • She is one of six kids in her family, all of which have names that start with K. Her siblings are named Kevin, Kara, Kelsey, Kylie, and Kendall.

Tyler Downs

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - JUNE 13: Tyler Downs competes in the men's 3-meter springboard final during day 8 of the 2021 U.S. Olympic Diving Trials at Indiana University Natatorium on June 13, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
NBC Olympics

Tyler Downs is competing in his second Olympics. He’ll dive alongside Greg Duncan in the men’s synchro springboard. The two finished fourth at the 2023 World Championships.

Fun facts

  • Downs, 21, has the largest social media following of any U.S. diver. He has more than 880K following on TikToks. One of his first posts came during the Tokyo Games when he joked about meeting Simone Biles. The video has 3.3M likes.
  • “It was super cool for me to show everybody what it’s like as an athlete to be at the Olympic games,” Downs said of why he uses TikTok.
  • He told USA Diving in 2023 he’s often called “The Dancing Diver”.
  • Downs made his first Olympics at age 17 when he defeated Olympic medalists David Boudia at the U.S. Olympic trials. Boudia is now one of Downs’ coaches.

Greg Duncan

Greg Duncan
Greg Duncan (right) and Tyler Downs celebrate after winning the U.S. Olympic diving trials.
USA Today

Greg Duncan, 25, will make his Olympic debut when he competes with Downs in the men’s synchro springboard. 

Fun facts

  • He met Downs in 2021 while both were competing at Purdue University. 
  • Duncan and Downs are two of five divers from Purdue who will compete in Paris. Fellow Boilermakers Maycey Vieta and Jaye Patrick will compete for Puerto Rico and Latvia, and Daryn Wright will compete for Team USA.
  • Duncan played football and lacrosse with a close friend growing up. That friend’s mom convinced him to give diving a try at 10 years old. 

Alison Gibson

Krysta Palmer and Alison Gibson hold an American flag
Getty Images

Alison Gibson will compete in the women’s 3m springboard, despite training mostly for the synchro springboard event. Gibson’s synchro partner, Krysta Palmer, convinced her to train for a second Olympics so they could try to go together. They didn’t make the Olympic team, but Gibson still qualified as an individual diver.

“I would not be here without Krysta,” Gibson told reporters at the Olympic trials. “She called me last June and she said, ‘I want you to come back.’ Without that call and without her prayers and without the support of everyone, I would not be standing here today. This girl right here is amazing!”

Fun facts

  • Gibson has never competed in individual springboard at a World Championship. 
  • She is one of three family members to have attended the University of Texas. Her dad and brother were also Longhorns. 
  • Gibson is blogging about her Olympic experience on Substack, providing periodic updates about her time in the Olympic Village.
  • She announced on her July 22 post she has an Olympic mission which she is calling “Impact Beyond Paris.” She is working with the organization Missions of Hope International and sponsoring a student at the Pangani school in Kenya. Gibson said she hopes to use her Olympic platform to get other students in the school sponsored. 

SEE MORE: ‘Grandma Jess’ Parratto is USA Diving’s role model

Jessica Parratto

Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell compete at the Tokyo Olympics
Tokyo silver medalists Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell will compete to return to the Olympic stage at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Diving Trials.
IMAGN

Jessica Parratto is the only U.S. diver this year competing in a third Olympics. She’ll compete with Delany Schnell in the synchro platform finals. They were the first Americans to medal in the event after taking silver at the Tokyo Games, and followed with a bronze at the 2024 World Championships.

We just felt like we had a lot left to give to the sport,” Parratto said of why she came back this year. “Even though I thought Tokyo would be my last go-round, Delaney kind of convinced me a little bit to come back as well.

“Diving doesn’t last forever, and I wanted to see what I could do, what Delaney and I could do in 10m synchro again, and try to fight for another medal. Luckily, at the world championships last summer, we were able to get that spot and a medal. It was our first medal on the world stage, so that was really exciting for us.”

Fun facts

  • Parratto worked in remote healthcare following the Tokyo Olympics and her temporary retirement from diving.
  • She calls cooking her favorite pastime, and uses Pinterest to find recipes.
  • Parratto also worked with the NBC Olympics research team during the 2022 Winter Olympics, and won a Sports Emmy for her work.

Delaney Schnell

Delaney Schnell prepares to do a handstand dive
USA TODAY Sports

Delaney Schnell will dive alongside Parratto following the duo’s silver medal winning performance in Tokyo. She is also one of three U.S. divers who will compete in multiple events as she’ll also dive in the women’s individual platform event. The 25-year-old won bronze in the 10m platform at the 2019 World Championships.

Fun facts

  • While training, Schnell also received her master’s degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Arizona, and will be finishing her clinical hours in an acute care hospital following the Olympics.

    I’ll be working with patients with traumatic brain injury, post-stroke, and some with dementia,” Schnell said. “But it really does take a lot of commitment in the pool.” 

  • Schnell was originally a gymnast before switching to diving at age 10. She is still a gymnastics coach at Springs Gymnasium in Tucson, Arizona. 
  • “Diving is just vertical gymnastics. It’s really the same thing. You’re just landing on your head instead of your feet,” she said. 

SEE MORE: Carson Tyler shines on platform at U.S. Olympic Diving Trials; springboard next

Carson Tyler


Carson Tyler is the only U.S. male to compete in multiple events in Paris. He’ll dive in both the men’s 3m springboard and 10m platform during his Olympic debut this summer. He’s the first American man to compete in both events since Mark Ruiz in 2000. 

Fun facts

  • Tyler, Parratto, and Capobianco are all from the University of Indiana. The school has had a diver in every Olympics since 1964.
  • Schnell and Tyler won a bronze medal at 2024 Diving World Championships in the 10m mixed synchro platform, which is not an Olympic event.
  • Tyler got into diving after watching divers compete in a pool next to where he was taking tennis lessons when he was 5 years old.
  • He is a two-time Georgia High School state champion diver. He graduated high school when he was 16.

Daryn Wright


Daryn Wright will make her Olympic debut in the women’s 10m platform. Despite finishing second at the U.S. Olympic trials, she didn’t find out she made the Olympic team until four days later when World Aquatics awarded the U.S. a second quota spot in the Games.

Fun facts

  • Wright has six family members who all attended Purdue, where she will begin her junior year this fall. Her dad, two siblings, Andie and Derek, grandmother, aunt, and uncle were also Boilermakers. 
  • From Plainfield, Indiana, Wright is one of seven U.S. Olympic divers this year with ties to the state either by hometown or college. 

SEE MORE: U.S. Trials: Delaney Schnell completes platform double

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