Virtual diving meets, farming fitness and training on trampolines have featured in a buildup where the pandemic meant necessity has been the mother of invention
At the start of April, Tom Daley tiptoed to the edge of a 10m board, inhaled deeply, and took his first competitive dive in more than a year. There were no crowds, or judges poolside, because of the pandemic. Instead in what was the world’s first virtual diving meet,
British, Canadian, Jamaican and South African stars went head to head from their own training centres – with the scoring done remotely by a team of international judges.
That such an event was organised shows how much the world has changed since Covid-19 took a wrecking ball to the sporting calendar – as well as how hard it is to forecast what may happen when the Tokyo Olympics get under way in 100 days.