Team USA diver Alison Gibson's Olympic journey came to a heartbreaking end Wednesday when she scored a 0.0 on the board on her very first dive at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
The shocking moment happened during the preliminaries of the women's 3m springboard competition on day 12 of the Paris Olympics. Gibson was in a somersault when his feet hit the springboard with a sudden and loud thump. He fell into the water as the crowd could be heard gasping audibly and his effort was ruled a non-dive.
Although the 25-year-old completed the remaining four jumps without incident with a total score of 198.30, the zero points still resulted in her finishing last and failing to advance to the semi-finals.
“I hit my heel and my foot on the board,” Gibson explained to reporters on NBC's Olympics website. “I've got cuts on my side and then I've bruised my right heel pretty good, but I'm determined to keep going.”
“But I will tell you one thing, I hope that anyone watching could see what it's like to get up and keep going, even when things don't go your way. It's about fighting.” she continued. “Obviously today didn't go the way I wanted, but I think you can learn and grow from every experience, and I really hope that the next generation of athletes realizes that you can keep fighting even in the worst moments. Take courage.”
And while Gibson's time in the Olympic spotlight still didn't turn out the way he'd hoped, he later posted footage of the ill-fated dive on Instagram, explaining that nothing like that had happened in his 15 years in the sport.
Check out this post on Instagram
“I held up my state and fought until the end of the event,” Gibson wrote in the caption of the video. “That's what being an American is all about. It's about standing strong, staying strong and persevering through the highs and lows. It's far from the result I wanted, but I fought hard to represent my country the best I could, and I'm proud of that.” .”
“For outsiders, this may seem like an embarrassing failure. But for me, this road to the Olympics was not a failure,” he added. “And I pray that my enthusiasm inspires others to fight, even when they feel like all is lost.”
Gibson previously competed at the 2020 Tokyo Games in the synchronized springboard event, which was moved to 2021 due to the pandemic, but finished last in that event as well.