The father of diver Yasmin Harper has said he is “incredibly proud” after she secured Team GB’s first medal of Paris 2024, describing the moments before she clinched bronze as an “absolute nerve-racker”.
Harper and her teammate Scarlett Mew Jensen made history with the first GB women’s diving medal in 64 years when they claimed bronze in a dramatic women’s three-metre synchronised springboard final on Saturday.
Her father, Sean Harper, said his daughter – who celebrates her 24th birthday on Sunday – had worked hard to “fulfil her dream”.
He told BBC News: “She chose not to go to university so that she could fulfil her dream, and she also turned down an offer to go to America, so she has stuck by it; she’s always wanted to represent her country at the Olympics.
“During Covid as well, when our front lounge was turned into a little mini-gym, she’s stuck by her dream, all the way through – she’s always wanted to represent her country at this level – today is just an amazing, amazing day for her.”
He said the pair’s performance was “as good as I’ve ever seen them do it”, adding that “lady luck was with us today” after a blunder from Australian pair Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith in the final round handed them the bronze.
“Waiting for the Australians to go, my heart was really in my mouth,” he added.
“I knew they dived really well so they would have been proud of what they did today, but that was an absolute nerve-racker.
“As a family, you can imagine we’re incredibly proud of (Yasmin).”
After a bright start, the women plummeted down the scoreboard into sixth after scoring 63.90, but they quickly improved with the following dive, scoring 71.10 to claw their way back into fourth place.
The event boiled down to the final round and a dramatic twist of events saw Australian Smith slip on the diving board during her take-off.
Although Team GB’s place on the podium was all but sealed, Harper later admitted she still had an eye on the scoreboard to confirm their final position.
She said: “We knew it was going to be tight and to watch them not perform on the last round.
“I think I feel like I knew straight away it wasn’t enough, in diving you can kind of tell where or whereabouts the score is going to be at.
“So for us, I think we knew, but at the same time you’re still waiting for that scoreboard to pop up and show whether we’ve done it or not.”
“Birthday tomorrow, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she added.
“See what’s going on, maybe go and see Paris and have a bit of a celebration.”
Mr Harper said his daughter was “very determined” and would not be able to “properly” celebrate her 24th birthday until her Games is over, as she gears up for the individual 3m springboard event, which begins with the preliminaries on August 7.
She plans to head back to London to train because the Paris pool is “a little busy”, he said, and will return next week.
Mew Jensen admitted it was “crazy” to have secured Team GB’s first medal, adding: “I don’t think I can quite believe it right now. I’m super proud of Yas, super proud of myself and super proud of the team.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer praised the women, posting on X, formerly Twitter: “Congratulations Yasmin and Scarlett on winning the first medal for @TeamGB.”
Earlier, Sir Keir met a number of Team GB athletes during their training sessions, including boxer Delicious Orie and judoka Kelly Petersen Pollard.
By Pol Allingham, PA