Italy's Tocci overcomes fear of 10m platform so he can hit the heights in team diving
Before Italy's Giovanni Tocci competes in the Glasgow 2018 European Championships diving competition, he will have to overcome his fear of the 10m platform.
Getty Images
Competition begins on Monday at Edinburgh's Royal Commonwealth Pool with the mixed team event, in which the female and male competitors each perform three dives and at least one from the 3m springboard and one from the 10m platform.
"I used to do 10 metres when I was 16, 17 years old, but then I had surgery on my elbow and so I'm done with 10 metres," Tocci said. "But in the team event I have to do the armstand on the 10 metres. I'm a little bit scared but that's OK. I just do one dive before my event. Two dives from the 10 metres are enough for me. I'm scared to be injured."
To minimise the injury risk, the 23-year-old rehearses his 10m dive from the non-competition 5m or 7.5m platform - a common practice among divers.
"I'm doing an armstand," he said. "It's not a really hard dive and I hope I'll do it well. It's a hard sport. There is the springboard and you can come close to the springboard or the platform. The most important thing is to be focused in every dive. We can't close our eyes. We have to see everything to understand where we are."
Tocci, who is from Cosenza in the south of Italy, is looking forward to competing in the team event with Noemi Batki (ITA), 30. "It's the second time for me to do the team event," he said. "The first time I did it was at the worlds with Noemi Batki. For sure the team event will be a good experience."
Following the team competition in Edinburgh, Tocci will focus on his stronger 1m springboard event, as well as the 3m and 3m synchro, in which he will compete with Andrea Chiarabini (ITA). Tocci, a 2017 world bronze medallist in the 1m springboard, feels prepared for competition despite having to juggle his training in recent months with English and Spanish studies. My workout before this event was quite good, not the best, because I'm trying to graduate. I just finished my exams, but I'm feeling good," he said.
"I feel excited. I like the pool, I like the city as well. It's the Europeans. It's a nice competition, there are many good athletes and hopefully it will be a good competition also for me."
