Donald Douglas Wagstaff,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(born 24 July 1949) is an Australian former diver who competed in the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

, in the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

, and in the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

. He also participated in four Commonwealth Games events, from the 1966 Games in Kingston up to the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apar ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Career

1960s

Upon arriving in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

for the

1966 Commonwealth Games The 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Kingston, Jamaica, from 4 to 13 August 1966. This was the first time that the Games had been held outside the so-called White Dominions. They were followed by the 1966 Commonwealth Par ...

, Wagstaff and fellow diver

Chris Robb Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name *Chris Abani (born 1966), Nige ...

were the first to start training immediately upon arrival, despite the day being declared one of "relaxation and settling in", due to the long trip from

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia. Their opportunity to train was limited, as the pool staff were not expecting them so soon upon their arrival. Wagstaff went on to win two silver medals at the games, one in each of the men's diving events. He was the only male diver to represent Australia during the

1970s

In the men's diving event of the

1970 British Commonwealth Games The 1970 British Commonwealth Games (Scottish Gaelic: Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis Bhreatainn 1970) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first tim ...

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, Scotland, Wagstaff picked up gold medals in both of the events and became the first Australian man to win a gold medal in a springboard event at any previous Olympic or Commonwealth Games. Wagstaff was described as having given "the best exhibition of spring-board diving seen by an Australian". His achievement was witnessed by his mum, who had to save $1000 in order to travel to the games and filmed him diving on her movie camera. In 1971, following his diving success, he attended ''The Age Sports Star of the Year'' banquet in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, at a time when he was being described as "the greatest diver Australia has ever produced". In July 1972, he competed in an international diving competition held in

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, where he won the men's springboard event. Shortly after, he participated in the

held in

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. In the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games, Wagstaff retained his gold-medal status in both events, having had to come from behind in the 10-metre tower event, beating

Scott Cranham Scott Cranham (born September 8, 1954) is a Canadian diver, who represented Canada at the 1972 Summer Olympics, the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, the 1976 Summer Olympics and the 1978 Commonwealth Games. He was also slated to compete in the 198 ...

despite messing up his 4th dive. Following his double gold medal wins in 1974, it would be another 20 years before an Australian would win a two gold medal double in Commonwealth Games diving, with diver

Michael Murphy Michael, Mick, or Mike Murphy may refer to: Artists and entertainers * Michael Murphy (actor) (born 1938), American actor * Mike Murphy (musician) (1946–2006), American drummer for the Bee Gees and Chicago * Michael Bryan Murphy, lead singer o ...

achieving the honour. During an international diving competition held in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

during June 1975, he finished fifth in the men's springboard event with a score of 501.15, in a competition where Australians finished among the top competitors. During the

, Wagstaff missed qualifying in his respective event by just 1.74 points, having finished ninth with 529.11 points. His coach Frank Murphy was critical of the judging panel, suggesting they were bias in their awarding of points towards competitors of their own country, in particular the points awarded by the Italian judge which he deemed a "fiasco". Murphy considered Wagstaff to have "a seemingly unbeatable lead" over fellow competitor

Greg Louganis Gregory Efthimios Louganis (; born January 29, 1960) is an American Olympic diver, LGBT activist, and author who won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics on the springboard and platform. He is the only man and the second diver in Ol ...

, who was then awarded a "phenomenal" 69.90 points in his final dive to secure his own place, although Murphy did concede that the dive difficulty undertaken by Louganis was higher than Wagstaff's. In 1977, Wagstaff won the men's 3-metre springboard title during the Australian Winter Diving Championships, defeating John Pendall and having been 18 points clear by the 5th round and ultimately winning by a margin of 5.90 points. His last competitive event was in the

, where he could only finish in 3rd place in the 3-metre springboard event, having previously won it on the last two occasions. When asked about the possibility of competing during the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the a ...

, which were held in his home country in the city of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, he conceded that he would "probably be in a Judge's chair by then". He ultimately was a commentator for the 1982 games.

Post retirement

In the

1980 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1980 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate ...

list, Wagstaff was named as receiving an

for services to diving. He was presented with a special award by

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...

in October 1982, in which he was included among 10 of Australia's best all-time athletes, yet only first heard about his award when he read the preceding day's newspaper.

Personal life

Born Donald Douglas Wagstaff, his father was in the navy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and he would frequently dive from the mast of a

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

into the ocean "just for the hell of it". His son Peter also took up diving.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagstaff, Don 1949 births Living people Olympic divers for Australia Divers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Divers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Divers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Divers at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Divers at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Divers at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Divers at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in diving Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Australian male divers Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire Medallists at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Place of birth missing (living people)