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Bob Morgan (diver)

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Bob Morgan
Personal information
Full nameRobert Quentin Morgan
Born27 March 1967 (1967-03-27) (age 57)
Medal record
Men's diving
European Championships
Representing the  United Kingdom
Silver medal – second place 1993 Sheffield 10 m platform
Bronze medal – third place 1991 Athens 10 m platform
Commonwealth Games
Representing  Wales
Gold medal – first place 1990 Auckland 10 m platform
Silver medal – second place 1994 Victoria 10 m platform
Bronze medal – third place 1986 Edinburgh 10 m platform

Robert ("Bob", "Bobby" or "Robby") Morgan (born 27 March 1967) is a retired Welsh diver, who competing for Wales and Great Britain is best known for winning a bronze and a silver medal in the men's 10 m platform at the European Championships in the early 1990s, and the first Welsh diver to win gold at the Commonwealth Games.

Born in Cardiff and raised in Llantwit Major, Morgan represented the United Kingdom at four consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1984 (Los Angeles, California); and at five consecutive Commonwealth Games, in 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998, winning three medals—bronze, silver and gold.

Having been a roommate with millionaire tennis player Greg Rusedski in Atlanta, in the aftermath of Great Britain's disastrous performance at the 1996 Summer Olympics, Morgan and fellow diver Tony Ally were forced to sell their team kit to passersby on the street in order to pay off loans, something seen as the nadir of an already poor British performance.[1][2] It was regularly cited as an example of how poorly funded British sport was before lottery funding of athletes was introduced in time for the 2000 Summer Olympics.[3][4][5] Leon Taylor, a British diver who won a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, suggested that Morgan & Ally's actions shamed the British Olympic Association into arranging for more professional funding of British Olympians.[6]

Post the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, aged 29 Morgan took a summer job show-diving at Legoland in a pirate show, and the following summer worked the summer season at Thorpe Park, and performing in pantomime in South Wales the winter. After then working odd jobs, including a period with Tesco's, he joined an estate agency run by former Welsh International rugby players. Now running his own estate agency business in Bridgend and married with three children,[7] Morgan's daughter Mali competed as part of Team Wales at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.[8]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Gibson, Owen (24 July 2012). "London 2012: How Team GB's fortunes turned around after disaster in Atlanta". The Guardian.
  2. ^ "DIVING: FIRST NIGHT: TONY ALI; Plunge to the heights". Independent.co.uk. 22 October 2011.
  3. ^ Hubbard, Alan (18 September 1999). "Diving - First Night: Tony Ally Plunge to the Heights". The Independent. ESI Media. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  4. ^ "Welsh estate agent changed the face of British sport after personal scandal". 14 January 2024.
  5. ^ Gibson, Owen (24 July 2012). "London 2012: How Team GB's fortunes turned around after disaster in Atlanta". The Guardian.
  6. ^ Gibson, Owen (24 July 2012). "London 2012: How Team GB's fortunes turned around after disaster in Atlanta". The Guardian.
  7. ^ Gareth Griffiths (26 March 2013). "Olympics: How Welsh diver Robert Morgan blazed an Olympic trail for Tom Daley". Wales Online. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  8. ^ "Mali Morgan". 10 August 2022.
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