David Snively

David Snively (born July 1960) is a Canadian former diver, who was selected to represent the Canadian national diving team at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow before Canada announced a boycott of the event in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, instead having to settle to a trip to either Asia or Europe.^[1] At this time, he was considered among the best divers in Canada and during a tour of Europe, won a gold and silver medal in Madrid, as well as a bronze in Split, Yugoslavia. In 1981, he was the men's overall champion of the Canadian National Winter Diving Championships.

He spent the next several years preparing for the 1984 Summer Olympics, only to fall short on each of the high tower and springboard trial events, finishing 3rd in each with only two berths available in each event on the national team. Following his failure to secure a place in the 1984 Olympics, Snively retired from competitive diving. As of 2021 he runs a fitness studio.^[2]

Career[]

Early years[]

Snively took up diving at the relatively late age of 14. In 1974, he was spending all of his spare time on swimming and diving practice lessons, which also necessitated a lot of cash from his parents to fund his training. His parents made him decide between the two sports, to which he chose diving as he considered himself to be progressing at a much faster rate. In that same year, he competed in his first senior nationals, finishing third in each of the 10-metre and 3-metre events, beating a national record by 80 points. He attributed his success to coach Don Webb, who he considered his "hero" and picked up many diving tips from him. Webb considered Snively to be inconsistent, to which Snively accepted and noted, "I have to work at it, but that'll come with experience". Snively had ambitions to win a gold medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, although conceded that he didn't want diving to "become his life" and vowed to quit if he ever began to hate it. Prior to the Commonwealth Games, he would spend four to five hours a day on average training, which didn't include his other sports training in weight lifting and trampolining.^[3]

Competitive diving[]

During the 1980 Olympic trials, he finished third and qualified for the final berth on the national team, but missed his opportunity when Canada boycotted the event in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. At that time, Snively faced the difficult choice of either waiting another four years to compete or end his diving career. Prior to the 1980 Olympics, he was considered as one of Canada's "most outstanding divers".^[4] Despite not being able to compete in the Olympics, Snively and fellow diver Debbie Fuller put on admirable displays in Split, Yugoslavia, with Shively achieving 3rd place on the 3-metre springboard and tower events, as part of a tour of three countries designed to lessen the blow of not competing in Moscow. The same week when competing in Madrid, Spain, Snively won a gold and silver medal.^[5] During the Canadian National Winter Championships which took place during March 1981 at Pointe Claire, he won as the men's overall champion and received a $1,000 scholarship from Adidas-Arena. The final event of the competition, the men's 3-metre, was also won by Shevley, beating his teammate Mitch Geller.^[6]

During the years leading up to the 1984 Summer Olympics, he ranked as one of the best two divers in Canada. During that time, the competition was intensifying and Snively ultimately fell behind two competitors who were ultimately chosen to participate in the Olympics, David Bedard and Mark Rourke respectively. In the tower event trials, Snively came short of Rourke by just 3.36 points. He also fell short on the springboard trial events, again finishing third which ultimately concluded his career as a competitive diver.^[4]

Personal life[]

Born in July 1980,^[5] Snively attended the Renny High School and was described by a classmate as a quiet, average student.^[3] His nephew is ice hockey player Joe Snively.^{[citation needed]}

References[]