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Chris Mears (diver)

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Chris Mears
MBE
Chris Mears at the 2016 Olympics in Rio
Personal information
Full nameChristopher James Mears
NicknameChris
Born (1993-02-07) 7 February 1993 (age 31)
Reading, Berkshire
Height1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Sport
Country Great Britain
 England
SportDiving
Event(s)1m, 3m, 3m Synchro
ClubCity of Leeds Diving Club
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro 3 m synchro
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Kazan 3 m synchro
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2016 London 3 m synchro
Silver medal – second place 2018 Glasgow 3 m synchro
FINA Diving World Cup
Silver medal – second place 2018 Wuhan 3 m synchro
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow 3 m synchro
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast 3 m synchro

Christopher James Mears MBE (born 7 February 1993) is a British diver and DJ/Producer from Burghfield Common, near Reading, Berkshire. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the synchronised 3m springboard event with Jack Laugher and won gold, the first Olympic gold medal for Britain in diving.[1][2]

Mears has won two further golds in Men's synchronized 3 metre springboard with Laugher at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and 2018, one gold and one silver at the European Championships, and one bronze at the World Championships. Aside from diving, Mears also produces music and has released his own songs.

Early life

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Mears was born on 7 February 1993 in Reading to Paul and Lorraine Mears.[3] His biological mother died from breast cancer when he was three. His father then married Katy. Mears has an older sister, Natalie, and a younger brother, Charlie.[citation needed] Mears was educated at The Willink School, a co-educational state comprehensive school in the village of Burghfield in Berkshire.[4]

From a young age, Mears attended diving classes at his local club in Reading. He started diving at the Reading Albatross Diving Club, later joining the Southampton Diving Club and began to compete in junior events.[5][6]

In January 2009 when he was fifteen, Mears suffered a ruptured spleen while he was training in Sydney for the Youth Olympic Festival. He was suffering from glandular fever but was not displaying the usual symptoms. His organs were squeezed by swelling, and further aggravated by the impact of his dives, causing his spleen to rupture. After losing two litres of blood and being given a 5% chance of survival by doctors upon admission to the hospital, he was told it was likely he would never dive again. For several days he was kept alive by medical intervention and his platelet count was at 2. Upon discharge, Mears remained in Australia until fit to fly. However his family returned to their hotel room one morning to find him having a seizure on the floor. Mears suffered a 7-hour seizure in total which led to a three-day coma.[7] Despite being told that he would never dive again, Mears made a slow introduction back into diving, and went on to compete eighteen months later at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India. He was left with a 30-cm scar down the middle of his abdomen.[8]

Diving career

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2010–2011

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This year marked Mears's return to the sport after his illness. On a National stage, he competed in the synchro with Nicholas Robinson-Baker as diving partner, claiming gold at National Cup and again at National Championships. He was placed 4th with Robinson-Baker at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.[9]

Mears won gold at National Cup in 2011, and bronze at British Championships. Mears and Robinson-Baker won a silver medal during the 2011 FINA Diving World Series, were placed fourth in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

2012–2013

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2012 saw him take silver at National Cup and bronze at British Championships. On 11 June 2012, the British Olympic Association announced that Mears had been selected to represent Great Britain in the 3-m springboard and 3M synchro, at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Mears's father, Paul was nominated by the B.O.A to carry the Olympic Torch during the 70-day relay in recognition of the time he spent at his son's bedside during his severe illness in 2009. Mears made it to the final of the men's 3-m springboard, placing 9th. His last dive was scored at 100.70, the highest scored dive of the competition. Mears and Robinson-Baker placed 5th in the synchro.[10]

Mears competed in the World Series circuit with diving partner Robinson-Baker in the synchro, and also competed in the individual event. The pair won bronze in Edinburgh and bronze twice in Guadalajara, Mexico. Mears also scored a total of 455.50 points- fourth position in the individual 3m in Guadalajara, Mexico- his best individual World Series performance to date. Mears and Robinson-Baker ended 2013 ranked seventh best in the world by FINA.[11] Mears also participated in the 2012 European Championships, finishing 8th in the 3 m springboard and 5th in the synchro event on the same occasion.[12]

Mears also competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the men's 3-metre springboard individually, and the 3-metre synchronised springboard event with his team-mate Nicholas Robinson-Baker. At the Olympics the pair finished in fifth place, while Mears was ninth in the individual competition.[13]

In 2013, Mears teamed up with Jack Laugher in the 3-metre Springboard, but did not qualify for the final of the World Championships in Barcelona.[14]

2014–2015

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Mears spent the beginning of the year recovering from an ankle injury at the Team GB Intensive Rehabilitation Facility at Bisham Abbey[citation needed] and so did not compete at 2014 National Cup in Southend. He also missed the first two legs of the 2014 FINA Diving World Series held in China and Dubai due to the injury.[15]

In the beginning of the year, Mears relocated to Leeds to train alongside Laugher. The John Charles Centre for Sport is one of the UK's high performance centres for diving, and plays host to all 3-metre competitors competing for the British Diving Team. Mears and Laugher first competed together that year in the World Diving Series in London in April 2014 and finished fourth.[16] In May 2014, the duo won bronze in the 3m synchronised at the FINA Diving World Series in Moscow.[17]

Mears and Laugher won their first gold medal on the 3 metre synchronised springboard at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.[18]

In 2015, Mears and Laugher won bronze in the World Championships in Kazan.[19]

2016

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Chris Mears and Jack Laugher at the 2016 Olympics in Rio

In May 2016, Mears and Jack Laugher won the 3m synchronised springboard at the European Championships in London.[20]

Mears was selected alongside synchro partner Laugher to represent Great Britain in the 2016 Rio Olympics where they won a gold medal in the Men's 3m Synchronised Diving event, scoring a total of 454.32 points beating the American pair Sam Dorman and Michael Hixon (450.21) and the Chinese pair Qin Kai and Cao Yuan (443.70). This is the first ever Olympic gold medal won in British diving.[1]

2017

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Laugher and Mears won three silvers in the 3m Synchro in four events of the Fina/NVC Diving World Series, two in China[21] and one in Russia.[22][23] However they finished out of the medal position in fourth at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships.[24]

2018

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At the 2018 Commonwealth Games held at the Gold Coast, Australia, Mears and Laugher successfully defended their title, winning gold in the men's 3 metre synchronised springboard event.[25]

At the 2018 FINA Diving World Cup held in Wuhan, Mears and Laugher won a silver in 3 metre synchro springboard.[26] At the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow/Edinburgh, the pair also won silver in the 3 metre synchro.[27]

Mears took a year out from competition starting October 2018 to focus on music and other projects.[28][29]

2019

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On 6 August 2019, Mears announced his retirement from diving on Instagram, choosing to focus on his music career instead.[30]

Music

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During the recovery period from his illness, Mears took up music production as a hobby whilst bed-ridden. He bought a guitar and started to learn to play, and also bought a Mac computer to create his own music on the Logic apps.[31] He used his bedroom as a studio and began to produce Electronic Dance Music and House Music.[32] In 2012, after the Olympics he signed with Insanity Artists booking agency.[33] His first large scale performance was on 29 May 2013 at Woodstoke Festival supporting Labrinth and Pendulum.[34] In February 2014 Mears released a preview of three new tracks on his SoundCloud page.[35] He released a single titled "Mexico" in Latin America through Universal Music in 2015.[31]

Personal life

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Mears has actively supported athletes being open about homosexuality in sports, posing for Gay Times magazine for the March 2013 issue and also releasing a press statement in support of his friend Tom Daley on his official Facebook page in December 2013.[36]

He appeared in PETA's campaign against swim-with-dolphin parks, saying that although he and his parents had previously visited such places while on holiday, "We had absolutely no idea how these animals are treated."[37]

Honours

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Mears, along with Laugher, was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to diving.[38]

Diving achievements

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Competition 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Olympics, 3m springboard 9th
Olympics, 3m synchro 5th 1st
Commonwealth Games, 1m springboard 4th
Commonwealth Games, 3m springboard
Commonwealth Games, 3m synchro 4th 1st 1st
World Championships, 1m springboard 14th 16th
World Championships, 3m springboard 30th 31st 15th
World Championships, 3m syncrho 7th 8th 3rd 4th
European Championship, 3m springboard 19th 8th 14th
European Championship, 3m synchro 5th 5th 5th
FINA World Cup, 3m springboard, 17th 16th
FINA World Cup, 3m Synchro 10th 5th 2nd
World Junior Championship, 1m springboard, 15th
World Junior Championship, 3m springboard, 7th
European Junior Championship, 1m springboard, 2nd
European Junior Championship, 3m springboard, 2nd
European Junior Championship, 10m platform, 3rd
British Championship, 3m springboard, 8th 5th 3rd 3rd 7th 2nd
British Championship, 3m synchro, 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st
British Championship, 1m springboard, 4th 5th 2nd 3rd
British Gas National Cup, 1m springboard,
British Gas National Cup, 3m springboard, 7th 3rd 2nd
British Gas National Cup, 3m synchro, 1st 1st

References

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  1. ^ a b "Rio Olympics 2016: Jack Laugher and Chris Mears win historic diving gold". BBC Sport. 10 August 2016.
  2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Chris Mears". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
  3. ^ Bailey, Michael (11 July 2012). "Team GB's official squad for the 2012 London Olympics". London 24.
  4. ^ Hugh Fort (28 July 2015). "Burghfield Common diver Chris Mears wins Britain's first medal at World Aquatics Championships". GetReading.co.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  5. ^ "Cheer on Reading's Olympic athletes". GetReading. 25 July 2012.
  6. ^ "Luton". Southampton Diving Club. 6 December 2005.
  7. ^ Rayner, Gordon (9 August 2016). "Rio 2016: The GB diver going for gold who was given 5 per cent chance of survival after rupturing spleen". The Daily Telegraph.
  8. ^ "London 2012 Olympics: GB diving contender Chris Mears' near-death experience helped him focus on his dream". The Daily Telegraph. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  9. ^ Walter, Simon (7 July 2012). "I nearly died - but now I'm diving for Olympic glory". Daily Echo.
  10. ^ "BOA Announce 12 British Divers Selected To Team GB For London 2012". British Swimming. 11 June 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  11. ^ "Mears Enjoys Best World Series Performance". British Swimming. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  12. ^ "Chris Mears – Biography". Team GB. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  13. ^ "Mears signs off in style". swimming.org. British Swimming. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  14. ^ "Diving World Championships: GB divers Jack Laugher and Chris Mears fail to make final". Sky Sports. 25 July 2013.
  15. ^ "Laugher aiming for success with his new double act". Yorkshire Evening Post. 19 April 2014.
  16. ^ Hope, Nick (25 April 2014). "World Diving Series: Tonia Couch & Sarah Barrow win silver". BBC Sport.
  17. ^ "World Diving Series: GB's Jack Laugher & Chris Mears win bronze", BBC Sport, 2 May 2014
  18. ^ Reid, Alasdair (1 August 2014). "Commonwealth Games 2014: Jack Laugher and Chris Mears take diving gold for England". The Daily Telegraph.
  19. ^ "Laugher and Mears win World Championship bronze". British Swimming. 28 July 2015.
  20. ^ Hope, Nick (13 May 2016). "Jack Laugher & Chris Mears win gold at European Championships". BBC Sport.
  21. ^ "Chris Mears & Jack Laugher win second World Series silver in Guangzhou". BBC Sport. 9 March 2017.
  22. ^ "Chris Mears & Jack Laugher Secured 3m Synchro Silver Medal In Russia". SwimSwam. 31 March 2017.
  23. ^ Bloom, Ben (13 July 2017). "Jack Laugher and Chris Mears back on track after Olympic gold almost ended career". The Daily Telegraph.
  24. ^ "Olympic champions Laugher and Mears fall short - but there's a new City of Leeds duo to celebrate". Yorkshire Post. 16 July 2017.
  25. ^ "North Yorkshire diver Jack Laugher wins his third gold medal at the Commonwealth Games". ITV. 13 April 2018.
  26. ^ Hope, Nick (5 June 2018). "Diving World Cup: Olympic champions Jack Laugher and Chris Mears win silver in China". BBC Sport.
  27. ^ "European Championships: Jack Laugher and Chris Mears win diving silver". BBC Sport. 10 August 2018.
  28. ^ Westby, Nick (22 October 2018). "Diving: Golden couple Laugher and Mears face 'trial separation' as part of preparations for Tokyo 2020". Yorkshire Post.
  29. ^ "HEY GUYSSSSS". Instagram. 28 October 2018. Archived from the original on 24 December 2021.
  30. ^ Hope, Nick (6 August 2019). "Chris Mears: 2016 Olympic diving champion retires to pursue music career". BBC Sport.
  31. ^ a b Caulfield, Keith (30 October 2015). "Diver Chris Mears on 'Mexico' Single, Learning to DJ After Near-Death Experience & His Olympic Dreams". Billboard.
  32. ^ "From a debilitating illness to Olympic gold medallist: Everything you need to know about Chris Mears". HELLOMAGAZINE.COM. 11 August 2016.
  33. ^ "Chris Mears Profile". Insanity Artists. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  34. ^ "Chris Mears Official Instagram". Instagram. 30 May 2013. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  35. ^ "Chris Mears Official Soundclould". SoundCloud. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  36. ^ "Tom Daley Coming Out Press Release". Facebook. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  37. ^ Lucia Binding, "Cruel swim-with-dolphins parks the target of new Peta campaign with Olympic diver Chris Mears," International Business Times, 20 December 2017.
  38. ^ "Team GB stars dominate New Year's Honours List". Team GB. 30 December 2016.
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