Diana Spencer

Diana Spencer was born in India, where her father worked as an electrical engineer in Calcutta. Having won the junior swimming title of Western India, she came to England to study at the Bishopshalt School in Hillingdon. She gave up swimming completely at the age of 14 to concentrate on her studies. After passing her matriculation exams, however, she returned to the pool to compete as both a swimmer and diver in 1949.

In 1951, Spencer was runner-up to Eunice Miller in the senior Southern Counties 1m springboard championship and the following year was the surprise platform winner of the Olympic trial at Blackpool for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. She went to the Games just a year after leaving school and, by then, had won the Middlesex and Southern Counties junior springboard titles. At Helsinki, Spencer finished a creditable seventh in the platform competition. Her second dive was the best of the entire round and she outscored the eventual gold medallist Pat McCormick, and at one stage was lying in third place.

Just a month after the Games Spencer finished third in at the ASA National Platform Diving Championship at Blackpool, behind Ann Long and Valerie Lloyd-Chandos. Long retained her platform title in 1953 with Spencer finishing second, but with just two dives remaining Spencer was in the lead. Spencer was third behind Long and Miller in 1954.

After the 1952 Olympics Spencer trained as a physiotherapist at St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. She had high hopes of making the 1956 Olympic squad but, after taking part in the two Olympics trials, she was not selected. In 1957 she emigrated to Canada with her fellow Mermaid SC team-mate Barbara Blowers. During the defence of her Middlesex title in 1953 Spencer became the first woman in Britain to competitively attempt the difficult 2½ somersaults, forward dive.