American diver Alison Gibson receives score of 0.0 after hitting the board in painful moment
American diver Alison Gibson went to the 2024 Paris Olympics with high hopes. Unfortunately, those hopes were quickly dashed when she had a disastrous first dive on Wednesday.
It was the preliminaries for the women’s 3m springboard competition and Gibson was up for her first dive. However, she made a mistake and her feet collided with the board after she started her dive. That led to her crashing into the water and she scored a 0.0 for the attempt. With that, she was effectively eliminated.
Ultimately, Alison Gibson registered a “non-dive.” The dive then went on to go viral.
“Obviously, today didn’t go the way I wanted it to,” Alison Gibson said. “But I think you can learn and grow from every experience, and I truly hope that the next generation of athletes recognize that even in the worst moments you can keep fighting, you can walk courageously.”
To add insult to injury, Gibson bruised her heels and said her feet were bleeding from the mistake and was in pain for the rest of the competition.
Alison Gibson noted that this had never happened to her before in a competition and that there was a thought around the deck that she was going to scratch from the event. However, it was important to her to persevere through that difficult moment and continue to compete.
“To those on the outside, this may look like an embarrassing failure,” Gibson explained on Instagram. “But to me this journey to the Olympics has been anything but a failure and I pray my grit can inspire others to keep fighting even when they feel like all is lost.”
Alison Gibson finished the day with a score of 198.30. That wasn’t good enough to make it through to the semifinals, with the 0.0 that she took on her first dive being a major factor in those struggles for her.
“My heart and my body hurt, but I know that this competition does not and will not define me,” Gibson wrote. “If you have a moment when you feel like all is lost, don’t give up hope. You are beautifully and wonderfully made.”
Alison Gibson is a Houston, Texas native and competed in college for the Texas Longhorns. There, she was an NCAA champion. She also competed in the Tokyo Olympics, where she qualified in the women’s synchronized 3m springboard alongside her partner Krysta Palmer. There, they finished eighth.