Caeli McKay will leave Paris 2024 with no regrets

Caeli McKay knew she had to bring her best to the women’s 10m platform final.

The Canadian diver posted the seventh-best score in Monday’s semifinal and, after that phase of the competition, said there were areas she knew she could improve on in the final – and she delivered.

McKay had a performance to remember, executing some of the best dives of her career for a total score of 364.50. Unfortunately for McKay, she came up just shy of the podium, finishing fourth for a second time at Paris 2024.

“Getting fourth when you put on a show is not a bad thing,” McKay said after the event. “Getting fourth when you have put everything out there and didn’t hold back and didn’t miss anything. That’s all I could have done. So, obviously, getting fourth twice at the same Olympics and getting fourth three times in my Olympic career is a little bit tough, but today I have no regrets. I have nothing that I would have changed.”

McKay and teammate Kate Miller finished fourth in the women’s 10-metre synchronized final last week. It’s the second straight Games that McKay finished fourth in the synchro event.

Despite the disappointment of another fourth-place finish, the pride from McKay was evident. She came up short of a medal, sure, but she executed her dives and performed to the best of her abilities in an Olympic final.

“I did as good as I could do today and I did the best that I’ve done this whole trip,” McKay told CBC. “So I’m really, really happy and I showed my strength, I showed the work that I put in the past three years and I finally was able to do it on my own in an individual event at the Olympics. So I’m really, really proud of myself.”

For her first dive, McKay went for a forward 3 1/2 somersaults in pike position, which earned 8.0s from the judges for 72.00 points. That put her in a tie for fifth at the time.

McKay’s second dive was a reverse 2 1/1 somersaults in tuck position, carrying her lowest degree of difficulty in the final. That garnered 7.5s for 63.00 points and a running total of 135.00, which had her in eighth place for the moment.

McKay upped her difficulty for her last three dives, beginning with an inward 3 1/2 somersaults in tuck position that had a beautifully clean entry to the water. With 8.0s across the board, she scored 76.80 to boost her running total to 211.80, allowing her to climb to fourth overall.

Her fourth dive was her most difficult of the day, a back 3 1/2 somersaults in tuck position. There was a little splash on the entry, resulting in mostly 7.5s and a total of 75.90.

“I was shaking. I knew that it was a make or break it,” McKay told CBC about the dive. “It’s always the make or break dive for me. And I was really happy that I figured it out in the Olympic final. Not very often that a dive that you struggle with your whole career kind of [works] out in the Olympic final. But I’m really happy with, you know, that dive especially.”

With 287.70 points she was in fourth heading into the final round, 9.2 back of Kim Mi Rae of North Korea for the last spot on the podium. China’s Quan Hongchan and Yuxi Chen held down the first two spots by more than 40 points.

With the pressure on, McKay delivered a great final dive of her back 2 1/2 somersaults with 1 1/2 twists in pike position, earning 8.0s for 76.80 points. She then had to wait and see what it would mean.

The Chinese and North Korean delivered solid final dives, pushing McKay into fourth – just 7.6 points out of a spot on the podium.

McKay said that, during the event, she wasn’t focused on anyone’s scores but her own, which is something she learned these Games. Focus on what you can control.

“I was really focused on myself. I really didn’t pay attention to anybody else, to the crowd, to anything. I was really trying to put up a brick wall between each of my dives and take it one at a time. And that’s exactly what I did. And I’m really, really happy with how today went.”

The 25-year-old has been diving for most of her life, beginning the sport at age six. She moved to Montreal eight years ago to further focus on diving. Her family wasn’t able to attend her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 due to the pandemic. While an Olympic medal eluded her in Paris, McKay said having her family watch her dive at an Olympic Games is a victory.

“Having them in the stands was really special and kind of feels like we’ve come full circle. I feel like I’ve had a mission accomplished with them being here.”