by Longtime diving coach Jane Figueiredo received the International Olympic Committee’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Monday.
Figueiredo was born in Zimbabwe, dove for Portugal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and spent three decades at the University of Houston, competing and then coaching.
She is best known for coaching British diver Tom Daley for the last decade of his career before his retirement after the Paris Olympics.
Figueiredo reflected on his career in an interview (lightly edited for length and clarity):
NBCSports.com: What does this award mean to you?
Figueiredo: It is the culmination of many years of hard work. The challenges, but also, of course, the recognition from the International Olympic Committee are something we all dream of. So I’m very, very proud to have received this award, and there are definitely some incredible coaches. So very, very honored.
NBCSports.com: How did someone who grew up in Zimbabwe end up diving for Portugal in the 1984 Olympics?
Figueiredo: My father is Portuguese and my mother is Scottish. Their parents ended up in Malawi, then my father joined the Portuguese army in Mozambique. Then my parents met in southern Africa, and the rest is history. The reason I was able to compete for Portugal was because when my parents decided to move to South Africa, Zimbabwe was not very keen on me representing them as my family no longer lived in Zimbabwe. So my father contacted the Portuguese Olympic Federation and said: my daughter is diving in the United States, I would love for her to represent Portugal. Would you consider it?
NBCSports.com: You were diving at the University of Houston at the time. How were you recruited to go there?
Figueiredo: We had other divers from Zimbabwe, such a small country. Divers older than me were looking to dive in the United States and further their careers, and the United States came to our door. So we all went to the same place, the University of Houston. A coach there, Terry Faulkenberry (of the Woodlands Dive Team), started this pipeline.
NBCSports.com: You went from competing for Houston to becoming the program’s head coach in 1990. Why did you decide in 2014 to leave to coach Great Britain?
Figueiredo: (In Houston) I recruited Russian divers and started an incredible dream, actually, of coaching them to Olympic medals (in the 1990s and 2000s). British Diving’s National Performance Director at the time, Russian Alexei Evangulov, recruited me to Houston and told me Tom Daley was looking for a coach. Would you come to London? I was like, no, I’m not moving to London. But Tom was so persuasive, so charismatic and so wonderful. After coaching Russian girls, these opportunities arise very rarely. Tom Daley coming to ask me to coach him was going to be a rare occasion. And I thought, you know what, I’m going to go for it.
NBCSports.com: You said Tom was convincing. Can you share anything he might have said or even suggested to entice you to come?
Figueiredo: He came on his first visit, just a little casually (he asked me): can I come train with you, and by the way, can I come stay with you? We didn’t really know each other very well. I just said, sure, I have no problem with that. I have a big house, come and stay. And he said, well, actually, Jane, I’m here to try to persuade you to come to London. He said: “I want to win a gold medal, and you coached the Russian girls to a gold medal (Vera Ilyina and Yulia Pakhalina at the 2000 Sydney Games), and my head coach in London, Evangulov , think you would. is great for me. So we sat at the kitchen table. He said, tell me what you think I need to do to get a gold medal.
I had watched Tom dive for a few years. I said, well, you’re scruffy. Your legs are bent. Your toes are not pointy. You are not very flexible. His eyes were huge, and he said, really? I really think you’re not going to win a gold medal unless you fix all these things.
Of course, he was the superstar (world champion at age 15 in 2009; Olympic bronze medalist in 2012). He was this guy who was coming up through the ranks, and there were things about him that I always thought, well, he’s got some qualities that need to be cleaned up. So I was very open in telling him that, without thinking that I was going to have to solve these problems (laughs). The rest is history.
NBCSports.com: Athletes and coaches don’t often spend a decade together like you and Tom did. What made it work so well for you both?
Figueiredo: We really had the same vision, the same dream. But I was going to have to move and sacrifice some things to get there. But back then, when you saw someone as talented as him, and he was training with me the first few days, there was this incredible work ethic, this incredible desire and passion, and it It was fun. I hadn’t laughed like that in so long. When coaching Russians, we don’t laugh too much. So it was very different. I could see this was going to be something that could be a lot more fun.
It was very, very hard, because I had left my family and friends to move to London. It was hard for him too, because there were a lot of expectations on both of us. When so much is expected of the British dream boy, I didn’t really feel that pressure until I made a move, and then I realized that maybe this was going to be a lot harder than I thought.
NBCSports.com: Can you tell me something about Tom that maybe only a few people know?
Figueiredo: It is completely authentic. What do I mean by authentic? First of all, he has millions of fans all over the world, but he never says no. He never says no to an autograph. He never says no to photos. It’s really difficult when you’re very famous like Tom – he’s famous all over the world, not just in Britain. I love that about him. Famous people, you don’t really know their true colors, as they really are. But look at Tom’s Instagram. Watch his coming out video. Watch all his interviews.
Or our relationship on the bridge and how we have been together. It shows the real pair there. It takes time for him to be able to express how he really feels, and it took us a long time, but better late than never.
NBCSports.com: Do you have a favorite moment you can remember from your coaching career? Was it the gold that Tom and Matty Lee won at the Tokyo Olympics?
Figueiredo: There are two notable moments. One is a very good story, that of finally winning the gold medal (in Tokyo with Daley and Lee). Then there is a moment of heartbreak and defining moment (on the road) to that gold medal, which is our failure to win the gold medal in Rio (Daley did not reach the individual final of the platform at the 2016 Olympic Games). You know that cliché, that saying that your greatest failures become your greatest successes? You wouldn’t actually believe this phrase unless you actually experienced it. So for Tom and I, the defining moments, Rio, were probably the most difficult moments I’ve ever had as a coach because we didn’t live up to our expectations and our dreams. But the trajectory from this point on is worth it.
NBCSports.com: Tom has retired. What’s next for you?
Figueiredo: Well, I’m tired (laughs), but we have a lot of amazing talent in Britain. Tom was – and is, I believe – the world of diving. It adds things to our sport, which is why people love watching diving. But he’s done now – for now – whether this will actually be a reality I don’t know, but I’d like to think he’s fulfilled all the dreams he had as a young boy.
So for me, I miss Tom every day. He’s one of those athletes that I never thought about, oh my god, I have to get up, go to work, coach. I just jumped out of bed and ran to the pool. It was such a wonderful experience to coach someone like Tom.
I’m not sure I feel that way today because I’m exhausted from the Olympic travels, but as a coach there’s a point where you bounce back and you continue this journey. You have to find the particularities of the divers who present themselves. There will be these children who will inspire and motivate me. It’s just going to take a little time.
NBCSports.com: What are your duties with British Diving at the moment?
Figueiredo: I am the head coach of the London High Performance Centre. Aquatics GB has been incredibly supportive and they have been on this journey with Tom and I for the last 11 years, as well as Matty Lee. We now have (including Paris Olympic medalists) Noah Williams, Scarlett Mew Jensen, Andrea Spendolini Sirieix. So we’ve had a lot of success in Paris and we’ll continue to try to thrive and continue to be successful.
NBCSports.com: Is there anything else about your story that we haven’t covered?
Figueiredo: I was pushed — Jane, when are you going to write a book? This seems like a very ambitious project, but it could be something very interesting. I just have to think about what that would be, and how could it be meaningful and not necessarily just a coaching book. Although there is no diving book in the world. So who knows. Maybe this will be a project I can get started on.
NBCSports.com: Well, you know, what would be a great final chapter is the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. Maybe you go back to Los Angeles where you competed in 1984. Maybe Tom participates in it, since he lives there. Everything would come together, right?
Figueiredo: I think about it. I want you to know it’s not something I haven’t thought about, going back to Los Angeles and my first ever Olympics would be really special.
I don’t know if I can convince Tom of the same thing, but I tell him all the time: Just because you say you’re retired doesn’t mean you really are. Hey, Lindsey Vonn (comes back), I just saw this a minute ago.
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