Getting to know Anabelle Smith

Anabelle Smith as a 4x Olympic Diver who’ll be heading to Paris in July. She is one of the most decorated divers from Victoria, winning Bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and Gold at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games with diving partner Maddie Keeney. Anabelle trains at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC), and can take advantage of the incredible diving facilities on offer at our centres. We caught up with Anabelle before she flew to Paris.

This will be your fourth Olympic Games, is it still as exciting as the first time you were selected?

I’m very excited to go compete at my fourth Olympic Games. I think I always dreamt as a kid that one day I’d make it to one, but never thought that I would actually make it to four.

What are you most looking forward to about getting to Paris?

I’m just excited for Paris to get back to what we all know the Olympics to be like, and feel that energy again, and probably having my family and some of my closest friends there. I haven’t ever had my whole family watch me at an Olympic Games, so this will be very special to share that experience with them and I cannot wait.

You train here at MSAC daily, what do you love about preparing for the Games here?

It’s always been my priority to be in Melbourne, so the fact that I’m at home and can train at MSAC every day is very special. I love the facilities here. I love my training team who I get to train with every day and it’s put me in the best position to do well at the Olympics.

What’s your favourite dive to perform?

My favourite dive to do is a forward three and a half somersault pike and my specialty is three-metre synchronized diving. So I have my partner Maddie [Keeney], side by side, and I pretty much I say ‘ready, go’, and then we do the same dive at the same time.

What made you fall in love with diving?

The thing that made me fall in love with diving the most was probably the challenging aspect of it, it’s a pretty unique sport, it’s very aesthetically pleasing and acrobatic and the acrobatic skills always came naturally to me as a kid. It’s been super fun, a sport that you can learn new skills really quickly and there’s always something new.

Why should people try diving?

I think people should give diving a go because it’s fun, it’s challenging, and it’s definitely rewarding when you tick off a new skill.

Describe your diving in three words…

Strong, powerful and fast.

Learn more about how you can get into diving at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre here.