Diving for Olympic glory after career-threatening injury

Kyle says he realised in 2014 he had a chance of making an Olympics

When Team GB's Kyle Kothari reflects back on the journey to his first ever Olympic Games, he feels proud.

The 26-year-old is preparing to go for glory in the men's 10m platform dive, the same event in which Tom Daley won bronze in Tokyo.

But, in many ways, being in Paris at all makes him feel like he's already won.

After medals in lower-profile events, Kyle faced the possibility of career-ending operations, first in 2019 for a ruptured left achilles, and then the same injury on the other foot in 2021 - six months before the last Games in Tokyo.

"At that point, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to come back," he tells BBC Asian Network.

Kyle says he started exploring life outside of sport, even working at JP Morgan as an analyst for seven months.

But receiving an offer to work full-time made him realise he couldn’t leave the sport just yet.

"Especially when I knew if I could stay injury-free, I knew how good I could be.

"If I didn't give it a go, I'd be cheating myself later down the line."

Kyle's journey has seen him change disciplines and jobs, before competing in Paris

Growing up, Kyle, who is British Asian, says he was actually into gymnastics as a kid.

But he says he "loved" weekly diving sessions so much he chose the water as his future path.

According to data compiled by Sport England, about 95% of black adults and 93% of Asian adults in the UK do not swim, with South Asians among the groups least likely to be active.

"Being a British Asian in sport is already quite rare," Kyle says.

"Especially when you get into the higher levels."

He describes gymnastics as feeling "more diverse", but aquatic sports like diving and swimming "were not diverse at all".

"You sometimes need someone to do it, for you to believe that it's possible," he says.

That message - and sense of responsibility - hit home for him earlier this year, at the World Championships in Doha.

Speaking with the Indian diving team, he says they were surprised someone with South Asian heritage, like Kyle, was so good at diving.

"The coach told me about how some of the kids didn't believe it was possible. Because there's not been Indians that have been in the top six in the world before.

"It was the first time I actually thought: Hang on, it’s important to see someone that looks like you doing something.

"That makes you think that it's possible."

Kyle's diving journey began young

But Kyle also acknowledges his privilege in being able to follow his sporting dreams.

"Doing sport to this level requires such sacrifice. Not just financially but also from your family and support network," he says.

Kyle points to the help from his family growing up in pushing him to achieve big things.

"My parents really valued sport growing up, and that's quite rare in my community. My dad would have sold the house so that I could make an Olympics."

That support also aided his decision to leave "a financially secure job" at JP Morgan.

"How many people are able to just turn an opportunity like that down?"

Now, he says he is grateful for National Lottery funding, and hopes that sports in general can become better-paying, so it becomes a realistic career path for people from diverse backgrounds.

Kyle has gone from synchronised to individual diving, and admits he still misses his former discipline.

After making the switch from synchronised diving to individual, Kyle says he's "excited to compete, but equally nervous", to be at one of the world's biggest sporting events.

The last person to win a medal for Team GB in the event was Tom Daley, someone he credits along with other members of the diving squad for their help.

"The entire team is filled with people that have multiple world medals, European medals, Commonwealth medals.

"We are just super-close mates. There's no egos, there's no chip on their shoulder. You can ask anyone anything about any advice."

The aim, Kyle says, is "to try and go for a medal", but he's pretty chilled if it doesn't happen.

"In a weird way, I don’t really mind.

"I don't think I'll be that hung up on it because my journey to get here has been so much harder," he says.

"You can always find something to be upset about after you've competed.

"You can nitpick and things like that. For me, if you asked me three years ago whether I'd be on this team... it's just a real honour."

Additional reporting by Manish Pandey

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