Diving is the sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

 of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard

Springboard

A springboard or diving board is used for diving and is a board that is itself a spring, i.e. a linear flex-spring, of the cantilever type....

, sometimes while performing acrobatics

Acrobatics

Acrobatics is the performance of extraordinary feats of balance, agility and motor coordination. It can be found in many of the performing arts, as well as many sports...

. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.

Diving is one of the most popular Olympic

Diving at the Summer Olympics

Diving was first introduced in the official programme of the Summer Olympic Games at the 1904 Games of St. Louis and has been an Olympic sport since. It was known as "fancy diving" for the acrobatic stunts performed by divers during the dive...

 sports with spectators. Competitors possess many of the same characteristics as gymnasts

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

 and dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

rs, including strength, flexibility, kinaesthetic judgment and air awareness.

China came to prominence several decades ago when the sport was revolutionized by national coach Liang Boxi

Liang Boxi

Liang Boxi is a former Chinese diver and a head coach of the Chinese diving team. He was among the first Chinese athletes to be awarded the title Master of Sport and is credited with revolutionising the sport of diving in China....

 and after intense study of the dominant Louganis.