Julia Vincent has big plans for Paris — fight hard for an Olympic medal, retire from the sport she’s loved for the past 16 years, turn 30 and have a massive combined birthday-engagement celebration with family.
The US-based diver, gearing up to compete at her third Games, has grown into a world-class competitor on the fringes of the podium at international competitions.
Vincent will be the only South African representative of the four smaller aquatics disciplines in France.
With Swimming South Africa raising the entry standards in diving, open-water swimming, water polo and artistic swimming, Vincent was the only one to make it.
Ninth in the 3m springboard at the world championships in Doha in February and 10th at the previous edition in Fukuoka last year, Vincent is different to the 21-year-old who ended last in her Olympic debut at Rio 2016.
“I was just grateful to be there and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. And not that I don’t think it’s cool now, but I definitely feel like I have a sense of belonging now,” Vincent told the Sunday Times from her base in Lexington, Kentucky.
“You know, I think that I have a real shot to do something bigger than I’ve done in the past Olympics …
“I’m definitely aiming for a medal because I think I would be selling myself short if I wasn’t.
“Diving ... it’s really anyone’s game on the day... it’s on the spot, nerves play a big role, the mental game plays a big role.”
In the seven-odd seconds from bouncing on the board to landing in the water, the body works hard. “If you’re not squeezing everything, every muscle, the dive’s not going to go that well.”
Vincent, who trains more than five hours a day and works with a mental coach, didn’t take long to fall in love with the sport as a schoolgirl at Kingsmead College in Johannesburg.
I’m definitely aiming for a medal because I think I would be selling myself short if I wasn’t
“I love a challenge and I love a thrill, so I like the adrenaline it brings me when I’m trying to learn new things. That was the thing that kept me coming back for more, but I just thought it was so much fun,” said Vincent, who also enjoyed hockey and athletics, focusing on the 800m.
Diving in South Africa was always a challenge during winter because there were no indoor pools with diving boards.
“We would put stockings on our legs and arms to try to insulate our bodies so that we could dive as long as we could. But that doesn’t work throughout the entire winter.”
At a national championships there were about 30 divers in total, senior and junior. For diving to grow locally, she added, it would take a lot of money to finance the required resources.
That was why serious divers like her were forced to go to the US where they are able to train all-year round, using indoor pools as well as dry-land training facilities which include boards and mats so divers can practise their routines.
Vincent studied public health at the University of South Carolina, eventually getting her masters.
She is now engaged to American Briggs Alexander and they plan to marry next year and when he finishes studying physiotherapy in 2026 they will have to decide their next move.
“I want to get closer to my family,” said Vincent, who grew up with her twin brother and their mother Cressida, who conceived them through a sperm donor.
Her mother, who was in the stands in Rio, will be there again in Paris.
“I’m going to stay there for about a week after I compete. I turn 30, and my mom’s 70th was last year. It’s also the end of my diving career and a getting-married celebration.
“So there’s one big celebration in Paris after I compete.”
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