Leon Taylor
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| Full name | Leon Taylor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
2 November 1977 Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England |
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| Residence | Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Great Britain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 10 m platform, 10 m synchro |
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| Partner | Peter Waterfield | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 29 May 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Leon Taylor (born 2 November 1977) is a British former competitive diver.
Taylor was born and educated in Cheltenham where he attended Bournside School. He was hyperactive as a child and his parents were advised to channel his energies and enthusiasm into sport. He was a swimmer and gymnast from the age of two and took up competitive diving when he was eight. By the age of 11 he was a national champion. He trained at Cheltenham Leisure Centre under Dave Turner and then Ian Barr until 1996. He was a mentor to Cheltenham Diving Club youngster, Daniel McGlone, who in hand became National Champion aged just 9 years old. McGlone went on to win multiple National and International events.
Taylor represented Great Britain at three Summer Olympic Games and was a member of the Great Britain team for 16 years winning medals at all major international championships. In the diving events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, he won the Silver medal in the men's synchronised 10-metre platform, with partner Peter Waterfield. It was Britain's first Olympic diving medal since Brian Phelps in 1960. He had come fourth in the same competition in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
Other achievements include Silver in the men's 10 m platform at the 2002 Commonwealth Games (he had won Bronze in 1998), and Bronze in the 10 m synchro at the 1999 European Aquatics Championships. At a national level, Taylor held both the 10 m platform and 10 m synchro titles from 1994 to 2006.
He trained with other members of the British team in the Ponds Forge swimming complex in Sheffield.
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