Individual events
At the Olympics, dives are scored by seven FINA-appointed judges. The judges rate the execution of every dive on a scale of 1-10, including half-point margins. Once all seven judges have submitted their scores for a given dive, the top two and bottom two scores are eliminated. The remaining three scores are added together, then multiplied by the degree of difficulty (DD) rating of the dive, to achieve the total score for the dive.
EXAMPLE: Lets imagine a springboard diver has just attempted a Reverse 3½ Somersault Tuck (307C). The current degree of difficulty rating for this dive is 3.5. Our diver is awarded the following scores from the judges: 7.5, 8.0, 7.0, 7.5, 8.5, 7.0, 8.0. The lowest two scores (both 7.0s) and the highest two scores (the 8.5 and one of the 8.0s) are eliminated, leaving only 7.5, 7.5 and 8.0. The sum of those scores (7.5 + 7.5 + 8.0 = 23) multiplied by the DD (23 x 3.5) equals the overall score for the dive, 80.50.
Judges are instructed to examine four parts of each dive: the starting position, the take-off, the flight, and the entry into the water. Each judge’s impression of all four parts then must be combined to arrive at an overall score, outlined on the following scale.
Excellent: 10
Very Good: 8.5-9.5
Good: 7.0-8.0
Satisfactory: 5.0-6.5
Deficient: 2.5-4.5
Unsatisfactory: 0.5-2.0
Completely failed: 0
Synchro Events
Synchronized diving competition at the Olympics takes place with 11 judges. Six judges (three per synchro partner) grade each diver’s execution as an individual, independent from his/her partner. This is done using the same principles as in the individual events. The remaining five judges grade synchronization.
Synchronization scores are based on six aspects: the approach; the take-off, including similarity of height; the coordinated timing of movements during flight; the similarity of angles of entry; the comparative distance from the board at entry; and the coordinated timing of entry.
The highest and lowest scores for each diver, as well as for the pair’s synchronization, are removed, leaving five remaining scores (one per diver, plus three for synchronization). The sum of those scores is then multiplied by 0.6 in order to roughly align it to an individual event score, where only three judges’ scores count. Finally, the resulting figure is multiplied by the degree of difficulty to achieve the dive’s official score.