100 Team GB contenders for London 2012: Pete Waterfield

Diving (10m individual platform, 10m synchronised platform)

Born: 12/03/81

Career highlights

The former Commonwealth champion shot to fame by winning a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in the 10m synchronised platform with Leon Taylor. The pair became the first British divers to win an Olympic medal since 1960.

Waterfield is hoping for another podium finish in London after teaming up with Tom Daley at the start of 2011. They claimed a dramatic gold in the World Series event in Sheffield in only their second international competition together.

Other career

Waterfield won the individual 10m platform title at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and took silver in 2006.

He has beaten Tom Daley to the British title in each of the last two years, but is hoping that his partnership with the teenager will help his career after long-term injury.

The three-time Olympian had his funding halved after a disappointing performance in Beijing, which was compounded by the recurrence of a shoulder injury that required surgery and kept him out for a year. His mentoring role with the Youth Sport Trust became a victim of Government cuts, forcing his wife Tania to take a second job.

Career background

Waterfield's introduction to diving stemmed from a planned fishing trip with some friends! He explains: "I couldn't swim so I thought I'd better do so in case I fell in, and went down to the local baths. While I was having swimming lessons I was watching the divers at the other end and I thought: 'That looks more exciting than swimming up and down.' So I had a go at it and my coach Lindsey Fraser spotted my talent and took it from there."

Did you know?

Waterfield, originally from Walthamstow in east London, lost his Olympic and Commonwealth medals on the motorway in 2007; they fell out of his rucksack while he was travelling on his motorbike to give a school presentation in London.

Both medals have been replaced.