Frank Carter

Although born in Wigan, Frank Carter lived in the nearby Lancashire town of Nelson. He first attracted media attention for his diving at the age of 13 when he won the Northern Counties junior title. A student at Bradley Secondary Modern School at the time, he already had four Nelson schools´ diving titles to his name.

Despite the promising start as a junior Carter, who went on to win many Northern Counties springboard and platform titles, had to wait until he was 21 to win his first senior national title, the 3-metre springboard in 1965, four years after making his international début against Hungary. Carter retained his national title in 1966 in what was probably one of the best performances of his career by beating the hot favourite, and recent Commonwealth Games champion, Brian Phelps into second place.

Carter won the British title again in 1967 and 1968. In the second year he competed at the Mexico Olympics but failed to make the final 12 after qualification and was classified in 19th place. Carter, who went on to win many Northern Counties springboard and platform titles, retired from competitive diving after the 1968 Olympics and started coaching youngsters at Padiham, near Burnley.