No fear for UQ alum chasing Australia's first Olympic medal in Paris
Words by Louise Evans OAM
Bachelor of Arts (Journalism) '82)
Design by Michael Jones
The honour of opening Australia’s medal tally on the first morning of the Paris 2024 Olympics rests on the impressive shoulders of UQ alum Maddison Keeney (Bachelor of Science ’17).
Keeney will be competing in the synchronised 3-metre springboard diving event on day one of the Games with her synchro sister Anabelle Smith, and the duo have strong medal-winning form.
Keeney, 27, and Smith, 31, won the gold medal at the synchronised 3-metre springboard Olympic Test event in Paris and a World Championship silver medal earlier this year. Plus, they’ve collected multiple World Cup podiums on their way to Paris.
The synchronised 3-metre springboard is the first of 2 events for Keeney, who will also dive for a medal in the individual 3-metre springboard. It means that if the stars align, Keeney could be coming home with 2 more Olympics medals.
Keeney is Australia's 3-metre magician. Over the last 3 years she’s won medals of every hue at world championships and Olympic and Commonwealth Games in both the 3-metre springboard and 3-metre synchro with partner Smith.
But the crazy thing is – she’s scared of heights. How do you reach such great heights when you’re scared of heights?
You won’t be surprised to learn that it’s mind over matter for Keeney – who is super smart. In addition to constantly exercising and pushing her body to perform greater feats, she also loves to stretch and expand her mind.
She completed a Bachelor of Science degree with majors in physics and computational science at UQ and landed a job with BHP in fleet management.
So how does she do it on the world stage – the mind-over-matter thing with the whole world watching? How does she execute a forward 3-and-a-half somersault dive off a 3-metre board, spear the water below like a bullet and emerge with a medal?
Keeney’s story starts in Perth, where she fell into the sport after her mum Lorraine signed her up for after-school sport and put her “scrawny kid who’s scared of heights” down for diving.
“I liked the technical side of it,” Keeney said.
“Diving never came easily to me, and I love the challenge. Every day you can get just a little bit better.”
To further her sporting career, Keeney left home and moved across the country aged 17 to Brisbane, to the nation’s high-performance diving centre.
“I wanted to take the next step, so I had to move on my own. It was a bit scary.”
In Brisbane she also began training with Smith, who became her synchro diving sister with whom she’s won 4 championship medals, including Olympic bronze at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“She’s an amazing person inside and out,” Keeney said.
“She is so easy to get along with. I’m so lucky she’s my partner and a really great friend. She works hard as an athlete in and out of the pool.”
Images: Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images
Images: Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images
Keeney has enjoyed the best of times and the worst of times with Smith – both extremes colliding spectacularly at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Keeney and Smith were in gold-medal position going into the last dive in the 3-metre synchro when a minuscule mistake sensationally sunk their campaign.
“We were doing a dive with 2 twists and I was too far off the board,” Keeney said.
“I got lost. I did one twist and opened out and wiped out. It was really embarrassing. I ruined it for Anabelle. It was also really scary doing a twisting dive and you don’t know where you are in the air.”
Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith with their gold medals from the women's synchronised 3-metre springboard at the World Aquatics Diving World Cup this year. Image: Wang He/Getty Images
Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith with their gold medals from the women's synchronised 3-metre springboard at the World Aquatics Diving World Cup this year. Image: Wang He/Getty Images
They got zero points and finished last. But wait there’s more.
“My individual competition was the next day. I had to go back and do the same dive,” Keeney said.
“I didn’t know what I was doing. Had I forgotten how to twist? It was scary. Diving becomes so second nature. When something suddenly goes wrong, you’re wondering if you can trust yourself to do it again.
“I was able to come back from a devastating synchro event and have a really good individual competition.”
Keeney won the silver medal, but more importantly got her mojo back.
All times are in AEST. Image: Chris Hyde/Getty Images for AOC
All times are in AEST. Image: Chris Hyde/Getty Images for AOC
Now she’s heading to another Olympics in Paris, where she faces the pressure of kicking off Australia’s medal rush on the first day.
She’s not bothered by the pressure – mind over matter you see.
The vagaries of the Paris schedule means that Keeney faces an 11-day gap between the synchro and her individual event. She’ll spend the down time at the Australian divers training base in Southend – the English coastal city in Essex, an hour’s drive east of London.
All times are in AEST. Image: Chris Hyde/Getty Images for AOC
It’ll be the team’s holding camp before and during the Games: a place to rest, recover and re-set.
On her return to Paris, Keeney will be using mind manipulation to execute her favourite dive in her individual event – a forward 3-and-a-half somersault.
She pretends she’s doing an “easy” one-and-a-half somersault dive. The mental gymnastics help her relax. Tense body, strained dive. Relaxed body, fluid dive.
So, she plays a game of bluff. It’s subtle and almost subconscious.
Being strong and athletic, Keeney gets good take-off from the board, which means more time in the air and a higher dive that facilitates greater accuracy and flow.
Then, just before she takes off, she says to herself: “front 3-and-a-half”. Then comes the magic.
“Visually everything is a blur. Everything is spinning around but I can see where I am and what I’m doing and how many somersaults I’ve done.
“I don’t need to count the somersaults. I know just by feeling. It feels pretty exciting.”
About the author
Louise Evans (Bachelor of Arts (Journalism) '82) is an award-winning journalist who has worked around Australia and the world as a reporter, foreign correspondent, editor and media executive for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and Australian Associated Press. Evans was the first female sports journalist employed by The Sydney Morning Herald and the first female sports editor at The Australian. In 2019 she was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for services to the media and sport and named an Australian Financial Review Top 100 Woman of Influence for services to the arts, culture and sport. Evans will be covering her 7th Olympic Games in Paris and will bring you up-to-date coverage on UQ's Olympic athletes.
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