Ukraine's teen diver Oleksii Sereda: The 'Once-in-a-century diamond' on a golden path

Ukraine's teenage diver Oleksii Sereda has had to grow up quicker than most since coming into the media spotlight at age 13.

In 2019, the 10m platform specialist became the youngest European diving champion in history. Sereda was three months younger than the previous record holder, four-time Olympic medallist Tom Daley, who won his first continental title in 2008 at 13 years and 10 months.

Overnight, Sereda went from anonymity to having his name regularly featured in headlines and being hailed as Ukraine’s next biggest star.

He lived up to the high expectations. Now a three-time European champion, Sereda has also picked up a silver medal at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships and made the 10m platform finals at Tokyo 2020 – Ukraine’s best performance at an Olympic Games in individual diving. Most recently, in June 2023, he won two gold medals at the 2023 European Games.

Even a full-scale war, which forced him to train abroad and led to his private home being shelled twice, did not dent Sereda's progress in becoming one of the world’s best divers.

His talent and resilience will next be on display at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan where the now 17-year-old strives to win his career’s first world title and qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

• Diving at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships: Preview, full schedule, divers to follow, how to watch live action
• How to qualify for diving at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained

The first dives: “Training tomorrow, one o’clock”

While nobody doubts Sereda’s talent in the pool now, the teenage phenom was almost turned down the first time he tried to enroll in diving classes.

Growing up he took swimming lessons in his hometown Nikolaev, but by age 5 he got a rough reality check on any ambitions he might harbour in the sport.

“The coach told me that I couldn’t become a swimmer – I was too short. As an alternative, there was a suggestion that I should try diving," Sereda recalled in his first media interview, to Ukraine's Strana media outlet, in 2019.

"When I came, (coach) Tatyana Vyacheslavovna (Pogrebnaya) told me the group was already selected and she cannot take me. She said, ‘I will not teach you how to swim’. But here my mom stepped in. She said that I already know how to swim and I want to learn how to dive.

Sereda returned to the pool the following day and has rarely missed a training session since, sitting out one of his 10 weekly sessions only when coaches specifically tell him not to come.

“I decided right away that diving is not just a hobby. It is something more important, so I did not miss training sessions without a reason," he told Ukraine's Tribuna.

"I tried to stay behind after the regular session and make further corrections. I was interested in this, and I don’t regret it to this day."

Bettering Tom Daley: Youngest ever European diving champion

Eight years after Sereda made his first leap from the 10m platform – a daring 3.5 backwards rotation - the teenage prodigy ascended to the top of the podium at the home 2019 European Championships in Kyiv.

The 13-year-old Ukrainian collected 488.85 points to finish ahead of experienced contenders, including France's European champion Benjamin Auffret, ROC’s 2018 Youth Olympic Games three-time medallist Ruslan Ternovoi, and Great Britain’s world silver medallist Noah Williams.

Sereda’s historic achievement made headlines and had accomplished divers hailing him as the next big star in the sport.

“We’ve had talented athletes in Ukrainian history, but not like Oleksii. He is a phenomenon. Such diamonds are born once in a century, it’s just incredible,” Illya Kvasha, who won bronze for Ukraine in the men’s synchronised 3m springboard at Beijing 2008 and has trained in the same pool as Sereda.

“I can’t single out Oleksii’s strengths or weaknesses – he is good at everything. He performs the dives with ease, has perfect entry into the water, is able to avoid all splash.”

As the diving world celebrated his milestone victory, Sereda himself stayed grounded and was already looking ahead to his next goal.

“I am happy of course, but not a lot,” the teen told Sreda. “My main goal is to become an Olympic champion.”

Oleksii Sereda: Age advantage and first attempt at Olympic gold

Sereda qualified for Tokyo 2020 by finishing fourth in the men’s 10m platform at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships.

The postponement of the Games came as a relief as it gave the Ukrainian teenager more time to get used to the changes in his growing body. At one point, it was so painful to dive, he even considered giving up the sport.

“A year ago, when I won the European Championships, I was afraid that I would grow and my body would change, so I would not be able to perform the programme well,” Sereda told Tribuna in October 2020.

“My bones ached a lot back then, it was unpleasant even to dive. Sometimes I had thoughts of leaving the sport and becoming an ordinary guy, without the constant training sessions. But now all that is in the past and, on the contrary, it became easier to do the dives.”

Sereda was 15 years old when he made his Olympic debut as the youngest athlete in the Ukrainian delegation.

Being the youngest at every competition is nothing new for Sereda and the diver has embraced his age as an advantage.

“It's easier for me,” he told Tribuna in 2019. “If I don’t become a champion, I’ll think, ‘It’s OK. I'm only 13. The best is to come. You've seen how many titles the other athletes here have’. But if they lose to a 13-year-old guy... If I were them, I would be very angry and upset. ‘How is this possible? I am so experienced, I have won so much, I have so much experience and I lost to this 13-year-old?’. So it is more of an extra psychological stressor for them.”

Sereda's attitude remained unchanged as he headed into his Olympic Games where he appeared unrattled despite the strong competition.

He advanced to the men’s 10m platform semi-final and then the final, making major mistakes in only one dive in each round, and ultimately finished sixth overall – the best ever result for a Ukrainian diver in an individual event.

Diving under the shadow of war

Growing pains were nothing compared to the challenges that Sereda has faced since Tokyo 2020.

As war broke out in Ukraine in February 2022, the young athlete was forced to leave his home and try to manage his training abroad. Sereda's mother accompanied him and his twin sister, but his father Viktor remained behind and survived two shelling attacks on the family home in Nikolaev in the first months of the war.

“Two cluster shells have already hit our house,” Sereda’s mother Elena told Tribuna in July 2022. “We have a private house. One shell flew from one floor to the next, smashed the bathtub and the ceilings. But the most important thing here is that nobody was hurt."

The war has also touched Sereda in another way.

Last year the diver made the “30 under 30” list by Forbes Ukraine, sharing the honour with Ukrainian soldiers, paramedics and war-time charity workers. 

Listed among “young Ukrainians who will rebuilt the country", Sereda was acutely aware that his international success in diving has now become more than about sport.

“I was happy to be included on this list. I see that I am on the right path and everything that I do is appreciated – all my efforts, all my work,” Sereda told the publication. “I try to do everything for my country."

Oleksii Sereda: Aiming even higher

While Sereda has made history for Ukraine at multiple competitions, it was returning full circle to the same podium spot he first reached as a 13-year-old that gave him the biggest confidence boost.

“I found my confidence in this victory,” Sereda, then 16, said after winning his second European title in the men’s 10m platform, in Rome. “Yes, I became the youngest European champion three years ago, but after that I was not able to conquer this event again. The latest victory helped me to believe in myself.”

The next goal is qualifying for his second Olympic Games through the diving competition at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, taking place from 14 to 30 July.

If he manages to get to Paris 2024, Sereda is not hiding what his goal would be there.

“I want to become the Olympic champion and I will definitely achieve this,” Sereda said ahead of his first Olympic competition. “I don’t set such a goal for Tokyo yet. I just want to do my best there. I understand how difficult it will be to compete for the top spot in the world, but I will announce such a plan for the next Games, in four years.”