Two UCLA student-athletes. One coach. One Olympic Games.
UCLA assistant coach Tom Daley walked away with an Olympic silver medal.
But the student-athletes walked away medal-less, being eliminated in their first rounds of competition.
UCLA swim and dive rising senior Gizem Guvenc, rising graduate student Emma Harvey and Daley participated in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games from July 29 to Aug. 1. Guvenc swam the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, representing Turkey, while Harvey swam the 100-meter backstroke, representing Bermuda. Daley qualified to compete in the men’s 10-meter synchronized dive event, representing Great Britain for his fifth Olympic Games.
Daley topped the Bruins’ performance by earning a silver medal alongside his diving partner Noah Williams in the men’s 10-meter synchronized dive event, totaling 463.44 points to place second behind China. Through all six rounds of dives, the British duo maintained the second-place position.
Daley and Williams kickstarted the final with an inward pike with 1 1/2 somersaults. Their effort notched 53.40 points, sitting just three points behind China after the first dive.
By the halfway point, the Chinese divers extended their lead to over 10 points. Daley and Williams comfortably clung on to second place, ahead of third-place Mexico.
The British divers saved their most difficult dive for last – a front somersault in the tuck position with 4 1/2 rotations in the air before hitting the water. Valued at a 3.7, the dive was the hardest performed during the final.
The pair scored a 93.24 for their effort – their second-best dive of the day. Before the Chinese divers went up, Great Britain led the field. But with a competition-high 103.23, China took the top spot with the same dive, winning the gold medal.
Daley’s silver medal is the fifth Olympic medal of his career, making him the most decorated British diver in history. After a brief retirement following the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Daley came back to mark his name in history books.
Nearly 10 kilometers away from the Aquatics Centre – the home of diving at the Olympics – the swimmers made their splash at the Paris La Défense Arena in Nanterre, France.
Guvenc represented Turkey in the first heat of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay Aug. 1. Guvenc and Team Turkey placed last at 16th in the heats and failed to advance to the final round.
Guvenc, the 200-meter freestyle national record holder, led off the Turkish swimmers and maintained the squad’s closest gap throughout the entire race.
But from the beginning, the Turkish swimmers were trailing behind. Guvenc started the relay off with the slowest reaction of the field at 0.79 seconds. She surged to maintain a fifth-place position through the first 150 meters, ahead of Great Britain, Germany and France. By the end of her leg, Turkey sat in the seventh position, ahead of eighth-place France by 0.29 seconds.
Turkey’s position continued to diminish through the rest of the race, maintaining the eighth-place position throughout the entirety of the last 600 meters. The squad notched a 8:05.18 tally – nearly four seconds slower than the national record Guvenc helped set at the 2024 European Championships in June.
With their dead-last finish in the heats, the Turkish swimmers failed to move on to the final round of the relay.
Two days before Guvenc’s debut in the pool, Harvey made her own.
Swimming in the 100-meter backstroke for Bermuda, the rising UCLA graduate student placed eighth in the fourth heat.
At the 50-meter mark, Harvey hit a 30.02 split, the slowest of the field. Despite breaking the Bermudian national record in the event, Harvey placed 23rd overall with a 1:01.78 time and failed to advance to the semifinals.
With their Olympic Games coming to an end, the trio can look back on what they’ve accomplished.
An Olympic medal. National Records. Pride representing their home nations.
Next up – the 2024 UCLA swim and dive season.
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