Source: Radio New Zealand
Steve and Monique Gladding coach a stable of competitive divers. Supplied
The husband and wife Olympic duo running a new world-class diving facility in Christchurch believe it’s a game-changer for the sport in New Zealand.
Since the opening of the long-awaited Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre in December, Christchurch now boasts New Zealand’s largest indoor aquatic and sport facility.
It also gave Canterbury a purpose-built diving space for the first time in years. Following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, competitive diving in the region effectively disappeared due to the destruction of the city’s main diving facilities, specifically the QEII Park pool.
In partnership with Christchurch City Council, Sport Canterbury, and Sport New Zealand, Steve and Monique Gladding relocated to the city because of the potential of the Parakiore facility.
Steve Gladding coached at multiple Olympic Games with Great Britain, and the pair moved to Aotearoa in 2015 when Steve was appointed performance director for Diving New Zealand.
Together with wife Monique, an Olympic diver, they bring a wealth of global experience and believe Christchurch is now positioned to become a national hub for the sport.
The timing of the facility plays a major part in Diving New Zealand’s ‘DNA 2032’ programme, which focuses on long-term athlete development. The national body is targeting Brisbane 2032 as an Olympics where it can make a real impact.
“The amount of money that is currently going into Australian diving speaks to that as well, so the fact that we do have this facility now, it will definitely play into that and help assist the vision,” Monique said.
New Zealand has only had seven diving Olympians since the sport made its Olympic debut in 1904 but with world-class coaching, now coupled with a world-class facility, it’s hoped the country can develop more.
Anton Down-Jenkins, who competed at Tokyo 2020, was New Zealand’s last Olympic diver.
Monique Gladding during the London 2012 Olympic Games. FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
Born in South Africa, Monique competed in gymnastics before an injury curtailed that path and she started diving comparatively late. Around that time Steve moved to the United Kingdom, and unsurprisingly the pair met through the sport.
Monique was able to compete for Britain through her father’s ancestry.
She just missed out on qualifying for the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and a horrific accident 18 months out from the 2012 London Olympics threatened to derail her last shot.
During a competition in Russia, her head struck the concrete diving board, instantly knocking her unconscious before she plummeted 10 metres into the pool below.
“They had to rescue me from the bottom but all I can remember was when I came out, was thinking ‘okay how do I come back from this? What do I need to do to still make this dream come true?’.
“I’d been pushing after the Olympics, that was my third cycle, and everything had been going so well, I was kind of at the top of my game at that point. It was an awful time but probably made me stronger and I really had to think smart about those last few months before the games of what I could do to really make it count, because I could only train a limited amount so I had to be really smart in my approach,” Monique said.
Perseverance paid off when Monique qualified for the London Olympics where Steve was her coach. She retired soon after and got into coaching herself.
The Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre in Christchurch boasts New Zealand’s premier diving space. Supplied
They initially moved to South Africa thinking they would settle there but when that didn’t quite work out, started looking at other options. That’s when Diving New Zealand pursued Steve.
“I had never been to New Zealand, Steve had been there doing a little bit of development work once before. It just sparked our interest and we thought maybe there’s an amazing opportunity to [do] development diving in a country that’s not so big at the moment and that was 12 years ago.”
Monique said there was still so much untapped potential in Aotearoa to develop elite divers.
“When we first got here we were in Auckland and there was really nothing about. Last year we got our first top seven in the world so we had two lads that went out to the World Championships and they got a top eight, which put us on the map. We’ve got some incredible juniors coming through and we’re only just getting started.”
Monique said a lack of a top world-class facility has held the sport back.
“We’ve been able to do what we can do with what we had but now we have this I think it’s just going to take it to the next level. I think it’s really going to open up some doors for people who are interested in other sports like parkour or tumbling or gymnastics, people who like to express themselves through artistic channels. Diving is another sport that they could be good at and I really think there is so much potential and we’ve already done so much and there’s still so much to do.”
Diving New Zealand actively recruits talent, focusing on students with a love for water and gymnastics through one of its school programmes.
The couple and their two children moved from Auckland to Christchurch last October to get the facility organised in the countdown to opening. Monique is the co-performance director of Canterbury Diving, along with Steve, who is still Diving New Zealand’s performance director.
The Canterbury region now has access to a state of the art dive pool at the Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre. Supplied
Some of the features of the state-of-the-art space include harnesses above the platforms.
“It’s a system that allows athletes to learn harder dives with assistance, which is such a huge thing – that learning curve is much quicker. We also have very wide platforms, the only ones in the country, which means we can do syncro and hold international events, because we have the minimum requirements.”
Monique said it would put athletes on a level playing field with their international counterparts.
“We’ve also got the dry land facility, which is an essential requirement now if you’re wanting to go on a high performance pathway.
“We have the new fulcrums on the springboards, which are now a requirement at all the world events. We never had them in the country before this so it means divers can practice and train on the actual boards that they compete at internationally.”
The couple are looking forward to holding national camps at Parakiore this year and perhaps some of those divers will be at the Olympics in eight years.
Outside of high-performance development, Monique said Parakiore would be a home for community participation.
“For those who just love water and want to learn how to dive, and flip and be safe in the water, we want to see people build their deep-water confidence, given the role water plays in the Kiwi lifestyle.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
