There are two Olympic Diving events:

Springboard: In which athletes use a 3 metre (10 ft) duralumin diving board to generate bounce so that they can perform acrobatic manoeuvres in the air; and

Platform: In which athletes dive from a 10 metre (33 ft) high fixed platform.

Dives are differentiated by the direction the diver faces for take-off, the direction of somersaults and twists performed, and whether the dive starts from a handstand. Scoring is based on factors including the beauty of a diver's movements, which combine three types of rotation (straight, pike and tuck), and the lack of splash upon entry into the water. Synchronised diving is additionally scored on how well two divers match each other's movements. Points are deducted from a perfect score of 10.

Deciding whether an entry into the water is good or bad is part of the sport's appeal to spectators. At Olympic level, the world's top divers create almost no splash at all, just bubbling foam on the surface. Such a clean entry is called a ‘rip entry’.

Diving began in the Olympics in 1904 for men, in what was called "fancy diving", which has been believed variously to have been off a platform or off a springboard. The 10 metre dive began in the 1908 Olympics. Diving for women started in the 1912 Olympics for women, with the 10 metre dive.

More Info: tokyo2020.org