BBC co-commentator Leon Taylor ordered the Olympic judges to intervene after Maia Biginelli delivered a ‘dangerous’ dive in the 10m platform semi-final.
Italy’s Biginelli attempted a 3.2 difficulty three-and-a-half somersaults inward dive in the tuck position for her third effort in Monday’s semi at the the Paris Aquatics Centre.
But the 21-year-old’s attempt drew gasps from the crowd and the BBC commentary team as she only just avoided smashing her head on the platform.
An animated Taylor, who represented Great Britain at the 2004 Olympics, said on BBC One: ‘Judges, you need to do your job now!
‘You didn’t do it this morning. Do your job now. That is a dangerous, dangerous dive.
‘Her hair hits the diving board, she should be massively penalised for that. Her hair pretty much hits the board.
The Italian nearly smashed her head on the platform (Picture: BBC)
Biginelli’s dive was rated as 3.2 in difficulty (Picture: BBC)
She looked sheepish as she exited the water (Picture: BBC)
Biginelli spoke to her coaches after the dive (Picture: BBC)
‘What are you watching from your seats? What are you watching? We’ve got a duty of care in this sport to keep athletes safe. You’ve got to penalise. Coaches, you can see that as well.’
Biginelli received just 41.60 for her dive but did not appear to receive a penalty for the ‘dangerous’ nature of her effort.
The Italian looked sheepish as she made her way out of the swimming pool and saw her result come up on the big screen.
Biginelli then received some feedback from her coaches, who showed her a replay of the dive on a small screen.
‘They’re showing her the replay now so hopefully she can process that herself because that was frightening to watch,’ another BBC commentator said.
There was mixed news for Team GB in the women’s 10m platform semi-final as while Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix booked her place in the final, Lois Toulson narrowly missed out on a place in the showpiece event.
Spendolini-Sirieix, the daughter of First Dates star Fred, and Toulson won Olympic bronze medals in the women’s synchronised 10m platform event.
