We caught up with 26 year-old Olympic and Commonwealth diver Kyle Kothari on a cool October Monday. Shooting at his training pool, Kothari is no stranger to a fashion story, having featured on The Perfect Magazine’s pages, as well as our own, back in Issue 03 of CircleZeroEight.
It’s his first week back in London – and in training – following Team GB’s post-Paris break, and it’s clear he’s taken the time off to reflect on his approach.
From Gymnastics to Olympic Diving: Kyle Kothari’s Athletic Journey
As with a lot of athletes at an international level, Kothari started young. Originally competing in junior gymnastics, it wasn’t until he was 11 that he discovered diving: “I got a leaflet for talent testing at school and my dad said I should go”. Reluctant to start another sport, he hesitantly went to the talent test. He enjoyed his first session, and began diving once a week after school. Two years later, he had completely changed sport – to the 10m platform, for both individual and synchro.
“There are similar skills [needed] between the two [sports]”, he tells me. “Spatial awareness – when you’re flipping and twisting – for example. The technique you use is slightly different, but it’s not impossible to relearn and change. In gymnastics, when you’re twisting, you have your arms into your chest, whereas in diving, you have one arm above your head”.
Overcoming Physical Injuries and Mental Health Challenges in Elite Diving
Building up his baseline fitness again following Paris 2024 by way of HIIT, weights, and circuit training, in a way he’s beginning again – something crucially important when he thinks about challenges he’s faced in his career so far. Sure, there can be physical difficulties, such as injury, which present themselves (Kothari tore his left achilles in 2019, and then his right Achilles in 2021, forcing him out of the Tokyo Olympics). However, there are mental struggles, too.
“[Mental] burnout […] just took its toll [at the start of 2024]. I would say that’s been the biggest challenge for me. With physical injury you know what you’ve done, you know what the problem is, and the rehab is very linear – very straightforward – but with your mental health, you might not know what the problem is”.
“I was going through the motions and had a mindset of just wanting to get through the training and go home”.
Team GB Diver’s Olympic Preparation: Rediscovering Passion for the Sport
Despite the pressure of training in the immediate lead-up to the Olympic Games, Kothari worked hard with his team to go back to basics. This process allowed him to rediscover his love for the sport, and the reason he was there in the first place. This, coupled with meditation practices to help him “leave everything at the pool”, was a vital part of his preparation for Paris.
When I ask him who inspires him most, he thinks for a second: “There’s loads of people around me who all have their own lives and stories, and I don’t think they get enough praise or recognition – our support staff, our physios, my coach, my dad”. It’s plain to see, then, those who you are closest to, or interact with most, are important.
The Dynamics of Competitive Diving: Teamwork in Synchro Events
This also applies to how divers conduct themselves with each other. Discussing the dynamic between synchro partners, Kothari explains that they don’t have to be best friends, but they do have to understand each other – what they should or shouldn’t say to one another in the arena, knowing how they dive and train.
“People dive at different speeds, and have different competition routines. Some people wait to the last second and run up the board to the top. Some people like to be on the board for a long time. But it does help a lot if you do get along. [And when competing as an individual] it’s rare someone’s trying to put someone else off their game. There’s etiquette between all the divers. One person dives and then the next person does the same”.
Commonwealth Games Silver Medalist Sets Sights on Olympic Glory
What next?
“An Olympic medal. That’s the only thing that’s left for me [after winning silver for the 10m synchro event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, along with golds in the 10m synchro and 10m synchro mixed at the 2022 European Championships]”.
But, as with everyone, no matter what you do, the target moves forward as soon as an accomplishment has been made. “It gets to a point where using competition as a motivator can leave you feeling quite empty. So in order to enjoy something like this, you have to think to yourself: do you have great people around you? Do you enjoy the process? These things are more important than any of the accolades and any of the attention that you might get from doing it.
We all need to shift our focus from the outcome to the journey”.
