Proud as Punch Keeney – Sets Sights on Tokyo

Published On: 15 August 2016

Diving: 3m Springboard Final
Athlete: Maddison Keeney
Venue: Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre

Western Australia Maddison Keeney has finished fifth in the final of the women’s 3m springboard at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and has set her sights on Tokyo2020 after a brilliant debut campaign.

Both Keeney and fellow Australian Esther Qin (sixth) leave satisfied with their performance and vow to learn from this experience to improve their future results.

Prone to nerves in her competition past, Keeney said there was one particular takeaway from her Olympic campaign that she would benefit from most.

“I don’t know how to be nervous for anything else after this experience, this is something you can’t prepare for,” she said.

“Experiencing something like this is what I have always wanted it has just been the most amazing thing ever and I am just going to take so many things away from this and use it to improve my diving.

“The Chinese divers are amazing and it is definitely a goal of mine to be able to beat them, Tania (Cagnotto ITA) has been to five Olympics and Jen (Abel CAN) has been to three so they have great experience so just to be up close to them is incredible.”

“When asked about Tokyo in four years’ time, Keeney admitted that she was already ready to go.

“I definitely would love to compete in Tokyo, I think Japan is an amazing place and I am already pumped from it after this experience,” she said. “For now I am going to cheer on my teammates and hopefully get out to see some other sports as well”.

The quality of the water has been a topic of conversation all week with Keeney admitting that today was the best conditions of their competition days.

“The water is better today, you can see the bottom but it is still a bit of a cake,” she said. “It is getting better so hopefully it will continue to improve for the upcoming competitions”.

The fifth place effort, adds to the bronze medal Keeney won in the 3m synchro, with Victorian Anabelle Smith.

The men’s three-metre springboard event begins tomorrow with Australia represented by Kevin Chavez and Grant Nel.

Women’s 3m Springboard Results:

Gold: Shi Tingmao (CHN)
Silver: He Zi (CHN)
Bronze: Tania Cognotto (ITA)
4th: Jennifer Abel (CAN)
5th: Maddison Keeney (AUS)

6th: Esther Qin (AUS)

– olympics.com.au