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Agence France-Presse

Australian world champion diver Cassiel Rousseau admits to a fear of heights, but it will not stop him trying to emulate his French grandfather by winning an Olympic gold medal.
The 23-year-old stunned the global diving community last year by denying China a clean sweep at the world championships in Fukuoka by winning the 10m platform.
It was an eye-opening achievement given China’s traditional dominance, earning him the 2023 diver of the year award from World Aquatics.
He now has his sights set on upsetting the odds again in Paris.
Should he top the podium, Rousseau will match the Olympic feat of his grandfather Michel who won a sprint cycling gold medal for France in 1956.

That Olympics was in Melbourne, with Rosseau looking to flip the script from a Frenchman winning in Australia to an Australian doing the same in France.
“That would be insane,” he said. “I just found out actually that he won his first gold medal at a world championships the same age that I did.
“Then I think it was two years after that, that’s when the Olympics came around … and he won the gold medal at the Olympics for France in Australia.”
Rousseau came to diving late after beginning his career in gymnastics and sports acrobatics, like his brothers and sisters.
It was never a path he envisaged growing up, given he does not like heights.
“I kind of have a fear of heights and because I’d see the diving on TV and I’d be like, ‘No, I’m never doing that,’” he said, with his mother to thank for steering him towards the boards.
“My sister was trialling for diving and mum asked me if I wanted to try as well and I said, ‘No, definitely not’.
“So mum just pretty much got me out of bed that morning of my sister trialling and she grabbed me and I was kicking and screaming.
You’re like, ‘Oh God, this is really high’
Cassiel Rousseau
“I was like, ‘No, I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to do it,’ but I eventually did.
“And then I jumped off the 1m board, the 3m board and ever since then I’ve just really enjoyed doing it.”
A 10m board is a daunting step up from 3m, and one he admitted did not come easily.
“Looking up to the 10m, you kind of tell yourself, ‘Oh, it doesn’t look high at all, that’s easy’,” Rousseau said. “But once you get to 5m and then 7m you’re like, ‘Oh God, this is really high’.”
Paris will be his second Olympics after Tokyo in 2021, where he came eighth behind Chinese winner Yuan Cao.
For him, those Games were about having fun and soaking up the Olympic vibe rather than challenging for a medal. But it will be a different approach in France as he targets gold.
“I was pretty new to the sport in my first Olympics … so Tokyo was to me just to actually enjoy and feel the Olympic experience,” he said.
“So coming into Paris I’m more able to aim for a medal, I don’t have to enjoy it, I can just focus on competing. All the razzmatazz of the Olympics, that came to me in Tokyo.”


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Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Paris Olympics: Australian diver won’t let fear of heights deter bid to claim gold

Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau competes in the final of the mixed team diving event at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships. Photo: AFP

China’s Cao Yuan competes in the men’s 10m platform final at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: DPA

Paris Olympics: Hong Kong medal hopeful Doo reveals she is battling elbow injury

Doo Hoi-kem (left) and mixed doubles partner Wong Chun-ting are ranked fourth in the world heading into the Paris Olympics. Photo: WTT

Doo Hoi-kem played in all four events at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Photo: HKTTA

Hong Kong table tennis women’s team (from left) Doo Hoi-kem, Lee Ho-ching and Minnie Soo pose with their bronze medals at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Photo: AFP

Paris Olympics: Singapore swimmer Quah’s Games hopes dashed after historic relay qualification

Quah Ting Wen has been dropped from the Singapore squad going to the Paris Olympics. Photo: Getty Images

Singapore quartet (from left) Quah Ting Wen and sister Jing Wen, and sisters Letitia and Levenia Sim at the World Aquatics Championships in February, where they qualified for the Paris. Photo: Instagram/TeamSingapore 

Members of Singapore’s team react after being disqualified in the final of the 4x100m medley relay at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Photo: AFP

Sport

Paris Olympics 2024

Aquatics

Other Sport

World champion Cassiel Rousseau out to disrupt China’s dominance of sport once more


World champion Cassiel Rousseau out to disrupt China’s dominance of sport at Olympics once more.


Australia

Swimming

Melbourne