JAKE PASSMORE qualified for the Olympics four years ahead of schedule.
So the teenage diver will be happy to make a little ripple rather than a big splash, metaphorically as well as literally, in Paris.
June has been a big month for the Bradford native, who qualifies for Ireland through his Dublin-born grandmother Elizabeth.
First, he turned 19 and, then, two days later, he discovered for certain that he would become an Olympian this summer.
Passmore had missed out on automatic qualification through the World Aquatic Championships in Doha earlier this year and was forced to play a waiting game.
He said: “Top 12 automatically go through whereas I finished 17th.
“When an athlete does synchronised diving as well as individual they count back a spot and lucky enough for me enough athletes are doing both events so that I could eventually get in.
“I was 90 percent sure I’d got the spot anyway because no-one has finished 17th hasn’t gotten to the Olympics but waiting for that call was brutal, not having a definite yes or no if I was going.
“It came the Friday before last, two days after my birthday so it was a nice little present.”
It means that, after a 68-year absence after 1948, Ireland will have had divers for three Games in a row with Passmore following in the footsteps of fellow Yorkshireman Oliver Dingley.
The pair have met only fleetingly with Passmore’s introduction to the sport not the result of being inspired by his exploits but through early exposure to it by his family.
FAMILY AFFAIR
He said: “Both of my brothers, Owen and Ryan, did it. My parents got me into it as a way to kill time after school. I was three years old and I looked at it and I thought ‘that looks cool’.
“And when I was five I started, I was doing gymnastics, but diving-based. As soon as I turned six I started diving and did my first competition at that age.
“I didn’t really play any other sports but I’m a big fan of Bradford City.”
Although he trains alongside Britons Jack Laugher and Lois Toulson, he said thoughts of competing for Team GB never entered his head, having taken part in Irish national championships since the age of 10.
In 2002, he took silver at the World Junior Championships and bronze at the European Junior Championships but insisted Paris was not on his radar.
He said: “My mind was set on LA. In Doha, I was just ‘go, do six dives, see how they go’. I did my last dive probably the best I’ve ever done, and it was enough to get me that last spot, and that was a shot to the system.
“It was always in the back of my mind it was a hope, but judging by other competitions I was never sure it would happen.
“In Japan I was around 45th, had a terrible competition, whereas in Doha everything seemed to fall into place for me.”
But he has not placed any pressure on himself ahead of Paris.
He explained: “It’s just a new competition, I’ll go in and do six dives the best I can. If I get to do more in a semi and final, great.
“If not, it’s still a great experience. If you failed at the competition, you learn something at least. I have no expectations, other than give it everything, that’s my own only goal
“I just want to be happy with what I’ve done.”
And he outlined how he has managed to better deal with nerves.
PRESSURE POT
He said: “I used to be absolutely terrible.
“I’m quite an emotional person and that would really leech into my competition.
“Say if I’d done a bad dive you could see it written all over me and judges see that and they’d be like ‘this is going downhill quickly’.
“But over the past, I’d say, two years, when I’ve got more international exposure, I’ve been way better.
“I’ve found a way to almost tune myself out of competitions by either listening to music or juggling or whatever.
“I taught myself how to juggle during lockdown and it kind of stuck as something to do but I can’t do it for that long or my arms get tired and I’m worried I’m not going to be able to grab my hands.”