Eden Cheng (born 2 December 2002) is an English elite diver representing Great Britain and England. She won her first major medal in 2018 at the age of 15, when she won the gold medal at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in the 10 metre platform synchro 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 ...

Early life

Cheng was born in London in 2002 to Chinese immigrants. She studied at

Alleyn's School Alleyn's School is a 4–18 Mixed-sex education, co-educational, Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Church of England, day school and sixth form in Dulwich, London, England. It is a registered charity and was originally part of Ed ...

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...

, London. She previously went to Streatham and Clapham Junior School. She took up diving after being inspired during the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. She joined Crystal Palace Diving where she trains under Chen Lin. In 2022, Cheng moved to California and dives with the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

women's diving team.

Career

Cheng started competing as a junior in 2013 and was a National champion a number of times. Cheng competed at National Age Group Championships, and won the 3m Springboard event in 2016. In 2017, she competed at her first British Junior Elite Championships and won gold. The same year Cheng made her debut in a European championship, representing Great Britain at the Junior European Diving Championships in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

, where she won a gold medal. She started competing as a senior in a number of FINA Grand Prix events in 2017, one of the youngest divers chosen for these events. She won a silver in the Mixed 10m platform event with Kyle Kothari, as well as a bronze in the 10m Synchro event with Emily Martin in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

2018–2019

In her first senior competition at the

2018 European Championships The 2018 European Championships were the first edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Berlin, Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom (with Edinburgh hosting the diving events and Gleneagles ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, she partnered with

in the women's 10 metre synchro platform, and at the age of 15 she won her first senior international gold medal. Cheng took part in her first

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

at the

2019 World Aquatics Championships The 2019 World Aquatics Championships were the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships, held in Gwangju, South Korea from 12 to 28 July 2019. The city had previously hosted the 2015 Summer Universiade aquatics events in the same venues.

held in

Gwangju Gwangju () is South Korea's sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. The city was also the capital of South Jeolla Province until the provincial office ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. Cheng finished in sixth in the 10 metre synchro with Toulson, as well as the team event with

Ross Haslam Ross Haslam (born 2 October 1997) is a professional competitive British diver, representing Great Britain at numerous international events. He is the 2023 European Games gold medalist and 2023 European Diving champion on the 1 metre springboard ...

. At the

2019 European Diving Championships The 2019 European Diving Championships were held in Kyiv, Ukraine from 5 to 11 August 2019. This was the sixth edition of the stand-alone European Diving Championships, Championships, and the 40th European Championships in diving in total, includi ...

held in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, Cheng won silver in the Mixed 10 m platform synchro with Noah Williams and bronze in the team event.

2021

At the

2021 FINA Diving World Cup The 2021 FINA Diving World Cup was scheduled to take place in Tokyo, Japan, from 21 to 26 April 2020. It was to be the 22nd edition of the biennial diving competition, and the first time this specific FINA event was to be held in Tokyo and Japan ...

held in Japan as an official test event for the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, Cheng and Toulson won silver in synchronised 10m platform, thereby securing their qualification to the Olympics. The pair also won silver in synchronised 10m platform at the

. At the 2020 Olympics, the pair finished seventh in the synchronized 10 metre platform after a poor start.

Career highlights

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Eden 2002 births Living people English female divers Olympic divers for Great Britain Divers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Divers from Greater London Commonwealth Games medallists in diving Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Divers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games English people of Chinese descent UCLA Bruins athletes English expatriate sportspeople in the United States