Nine-time Texas A&M All-America diver Grant Nel was named to Australia’s Olympic diving team and will compete in Rio de Janeiro at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the Australian Olympic Committee announced.
For Nel, who dove at Texas A&M from 2009-12, his spot on the Australian Olympic Team is the culmination of nearly 20 years of hard work and dedication. Just missing out on his Olympic dream in 2012, Nel finished first at the Australian Open Championships in May in the three-meter springboard to cement his spot on the 2016 team.
“It’s a dream come true. I’ve competed at many international events in the past 19 years, but this is the pinnacle,” Nel said. “I got a call from David (Bell, CEO Diving Australia) to tell me I was in the Team and I was in tears, my whole family, my girlfriend, were all in tears.”
A veteran international diver, Nel has competed in the FINA Diving World Championships five times and the FINA World Cup four times. He has earned medals three times at the Commonwealth Games – a bronze in Delhi in 2010 and a bronze and silver in Glasgow in 2014.
At Texas A&M, Nel was a three-time conference champion, shared the Big 12 Diver of the Meet honors in 2010 and was the Big 12 Diver of the Year in 2011. His dominant performance at the 2011 NCAA Championships saw him finish second on the one- and three-meter springboards and third in the platform dive. His runner-up finishes match the highest individual NCAA finishes in program history with Riley Janes in the 100 backstroke in 2000 and Chris O’Neil in the 100 butterfly in 1985 and 1986.
Nel joins current Aggie swimmers Sydney Pickrem (Canada) and Béryl Gastaldello (France) and 2015 senior Lili Ibanez (Mexico) as 2016 Olympians with ties to Texas A&M Swimming & Diving.
Swimming news courtesy of Texas A&M Swimming and Diving.