Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix (; born 11 September 2004) is a British professional diver. In her breakthrough year of 2022, she became a World junior, two-time European senior, two-time Commonwealth Games and two-time national senior champion across 10 metre platform and 10 metre synchronised platform events, as well as a World senior medalist in the team event. She made her international debut in 2018 as a thirteen year old, and won her first solo international

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the 2020 FINA Diving Grand Prix. Later that year Spendolini-Sirieix was recognised as the

BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award is presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony. It is awarded to the sportsperson aged 17 or under as of 1 January of that year, who has made the most outstanding con ...

. She won the gold for the women's individual 10 metre platform at her first Commonwealth Games, in 2022, the first English woman to win the event since 1966. Two weeks later, she became European Champion in the same event, representing Great Britain. Sirieix went on to win a further gold at each event in the synchronised discipline; in the women's event at the European Championships with

Lois Toulson Lois Mae Toulson (born 26 September 1999) is a British diver. A specialist in the 10 metre platform, she won the gold medal at the inaugural European Games in 2015, and the senior European title in 2017. She competed in the women's synchroni ...

, and at the 10 metre mixed synchro event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games with Noah Williams.

Early life

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 11 September 2004, the daughter of French hotel host

Fred Sirieix Fred Sirieix (; born 27 January 1972) is a French maître d'hôtel best known for appearing on Channel 4's ''First Dates'', and BBC Two's '' Million Pound Menu''. Sirieix grew up in Limoges, France and trained to work in front of house in a Mic ...

and his ex-wife Italian Alex Spendolini.

Career

At the British Diving Championships in 2018, Spendolini-Sirieix and her colleague from Crystal Palace Diving Club, Josie Zillig, won the women's 10m

synchronised diving Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, usually while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-comp ...

event, completing five dives as the only entrants. The following year, partnering Emily Martin, she won Women's synchronised diving competition at the Junior European Championships in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

. Spendolini-Sirieix won a solo gold at the British Diving Championships in the Women's 10m Platform competition in 2020, and a few weeks later won her first international

at the

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

Grand Prix in

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...

in February 2020. Having been in second place during the first four rounds in Rostock, she achieved a score of 76.80 on her final dive to win with a total of 330.50, ahead of Celina Toth who scored a total of 329.35. Spendolini-Sirieix earned her place as the youngest member of the Team GB diving team at Tokyo 2020 after a string of eye-catching performances over the previous two years, including two medals at the 2021 European Championships. In Tokyo, aged only 16, Andrea went through the rounds and reached the Olympic final in the Women's 10m Platform, ultimately finishing seventh. She was selected as the

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, and was shortlisted again in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

. In May 2021, Spendolini-Sirieix and Noah Williams won a silver medal in the 10m mixed synchro event at the

2020 European Aquatics Championships The 2020 European Aquatics Championships (also known as the 2021 European Aquatics Championships; 35th) were scheduled to take place in Budapest, Hungary, from 11 to 24 May 2020. However, on 5 May it was announced that the event had been postpon ...

. She also won a bronze in individual 10m platform at the Championships. In August 2022, she won two gold medals, in the Women's 10m platform and the Mixed Pairs Synchronised 10m platform with Noah Williams, and a silver medal, in the Women's Synchronised 10m platform with Eden Cheng, at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. In May 2023, she won her second 10m platform title at the

British Diving Championships The British Diving Championships are an annual event organised by British Swimming (the governing body of swimming in the United Kingdom). History Historically the Championships was held as part of the British Swimming Championships but they ...

. In July 2023

and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix win silver at

2023 World Aquatics Championships The 2023 World Aquatics Championships, the 20th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, will be held in Fukuoka, Japan, between 14 to 30 July 2023. Originally scheduled to be held in 2021, the championships were postponed until May 2022 ...

in the Women's 10m synchro.

Career highlights

A. with Josie Zilling (there were no other entrants)
B. with Emily Martin
C. with Noah Williams
D. with

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spendolini-Sirieix, Andrea 2004 births Living people English female divers Divers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic divers for Great Britain English people of French descent English people of Italian descent World Aquatics Championships medalists in diving Divers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in diving Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England 21st-century British women Divers from Greater London Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games