Watson is also the first Irish platform diver to qualify for the games.
19 year-old athlete Tanya Watson has made history as the first female Irish diver to qualify for the Olympic Games.
In a
FINA Diving World Cup event that took place in Tokyo, Watson secured her place in the upcoming games.
In the Women's 10m Platform round, Watson finished in 16th place with 271.58 points.
Yesterday,
Team Ireland confirmed that Watson had qualified for the Olympics on their social media pages:
"Diving into the history books is Tanya Watson who has become the first Irish female diver to qualify for the Olympics.
"Tanya was 16th in the preliminary round of the Women's 10m Platform with 271.58 points at the FINA Diving World Cup 2021."
Watson's result is slightly off from her personal best.
https://twitter.com/TeamIreland/status/1389482153034100738
In 2018, Tanya competed in the European Championships at age 16. She finished in 7th place. She then went on to compete in the Youth Olympics, where she nabbed 5th place.
As well as being the first female Irish diver to qualify for the games, Watson has the honour of being the first Irish platform diver to make it to the Olympics.
Hoping to join Tanya in Tokyo this year are her fellow divers Ciara McGing and Oliver Dingley.
McGing missed out on automatic qualification after finishing in 23rd place in the Women's 10m Platform event. Later this month, the diver will learn if she qualifies as the remainder of unused places will be filled according to world rankings.
Dingley, meanwhile, will compete tomorrow morning in the Men's 3m Springboard event. The diver previously represented Ireland in the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he finished in 8th place.
The Tokyo Olympics are due to take place this summer between 23 July and 8 August. The games had to be postponed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
