Meet the BBC’s diving commentators and presenters at the 2022 Commonwealth Games including Tonia Couch, Leon Taylor and Kat Downes.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games have been a huge success so far with Team England winning plenty of medals across swimming, athletics, and gymnastics.
Thursday marked day seven of the international sports competition and it was the turn of the divers. The diving events which run until Monday, August 8, and Team England are already off to a great start.
27-year-old Jack Laugher won his third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medal, his seventh medal overall, in the men’s 1m springboard while England’s Jordan Houlden took bronze.
At Sandwell Aquatics Centre, Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix finished ahead of England team-mate Lois Toulson to win the gold medal in the women’s 10-meter platform diving final. Both Laugher and Spendolini-Sirieix will be back on the diving board over the weekend.
BBC’s diving presenters – meet Tonia Couch
Gabby Logan, Clare Balding, Hazel Irvine and Jason Mohammad are among the presenters bringing the action right to your door every day until 8 August.
To help with the diving over the next few days, former Team GB diver Tonia Couch has been helping out live from the BBC studio in Birmingham.
Couch was born in Plymouth in 1989 and started diving at the age of 10. With partner Sarah Barrow she won a European gold medal in 2012 before finishing fifth at the London Olympics.
Couch then competed in Rio in 2016 with new partner Lois Toulson, placing fifth in the 10m Synchro final. She retired in 2018 and has been working for the BBC as a presenter and pundit ever since.
BBC’s diving commentators – meet Leon Taylor and Kat Downes
BBC’s diving commentators from inside Sandwell Aquatics Centre are Leon Taylor and Kat Downes. Taylor is a former Team GB diver who won medals at all major international events including a silver at the Athens Olympics.
In May 2008, Leon retired from diving but continued helping Team GB athletes in his role as a member of the British Olympic Association (BOA) athletes commission. He has also been a close mentor to British diving legend Tom Daley.
Leon now speaks about mental wellness, with his TEDx talk, ‘How to manage your mental health’, proving very popular. He teaches yoga, helps entrepreneurs and commentates for the BBC.
Kat Downes is a television presenter who works on the BBC News Channel and BBC Breakfast, specializing in sports coverage
She has been part of BBC Sport’s presentation and interview team at the Commonwealth Games, and has been working alongside Leon covering the diving: