Platform, Women

Denmark’s Stefanie Clausen won this event in 1920, but since then the gold medal had always gone to a United States’ diver. In 1952-56 it had been Pat McCormick, who won the diving double-double, but she was retired. American Paula Jean Myers-Pope had won silver on platform in 1952 and bronze in 1956 and was back, expecting to contend for gold. Germany’s Ingrid Krämer was little known before 1960 but had already won the springboard gold medal in Roma. Krämer also won this event, quite easily in fact, making this the fourth consecutive Olympics at which the same woman won both the springboard and platform diving events, after McCormick in 1952-56 and Vicki Draves in 1948.

Myers-Pope won silver, finishing her Olympic career with four medals, but never managing to win a gold. The bronze went to Ninel Krutova in her third Olympic appearance, the first ever Olympic medal for a Soviet diver. Krämer would return in 1964 to repeat her springboard gold medal, but dropped back to a silver on the Tokyo platform.