RESOURCES
Dive codes, decoded.
Every dive has a number. Once you can read it you know exactly what the diver is about to do before they leave the board. Type a code and see it in plain English with the degree of difficulty.
HOW TO READ ONE
The numbering system
The code is three or four digits and a letter. Read it left to right. Take 107C: group 1 is forward, 0 means it is not a flying dive, 7 means seven half somersaults, so three and a half, and C is tuck. A forward three and a half somersault in tuck. Once it clicks you will never watch a meet the same way again.
- First digit
The group
1 forward, 2 back, 3 reverse, 4 inward, 5 twisting, 6 armstand. Forward means the diver faces the water and rotates toward it. Back means facing away and rotating away. Reverse means facing the water and rotating back toward the board. Inward means facing the board and rotating toward the water.
- Second digit
Flying, or the direction of a twister
For groups 1 to 4 this digit is 0, or 1 if the dive is a flying dive (a straight position held through the first somersault). For twisting dives (group 5) and armstand dives (group 6) it is the direction: 1 forward, 2 back, 3 reverse, 4 inward.
- Third digit
Half somersaults
Count in halves. 1 is a plain dive (half a somersault, head first). 3 is one and a half. 5 is two and a half. 7 is three and a half. 9 is four and a half.
- Fourth digit
Half twists
Only on twisting and armstand dives. 1 is a half twist, 2 a full, 3 one and a half, and so on up to 7 for three and a half.
- Letter
The position
A straight, B pike, C tuck, D free. Free is used on twisting dives where the body passes through more than one position.
Degree of difficulty
The DD is set by World Aquatics from a formula that adds up the somersaults, twists, position, takeoff and entry, and it changes with the height of the board. The same dive is usually harder on 1m than on 3m because there is less time in the air. The dive score you see at a meet is the judges' awards multiplied by this number, which is why a clean easy dive can still lose to a scrappy hard one. Try the score calculator to see how it plays out.
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