Steele Johnson

Steele Johnson

Steele Johnson (left) and David Boudia at the Rio Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Steele Alexander Johnson
National team	United States
Born	(1996-06-16) June 16, 1996 (age 20) Indianapolis, Indiana
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Sport
Country	United States
Event(s)	10m, 10m synchro
College team	Purdue University
Club	Boiler Diving Academy
Medal record Men's diving Representing the United States Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 0 1 0 FINA Diving World Cup 0 0 1 Total 0 1 1 Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro 10 m synchro FINA Diving World Cup 2014 Shanghai 10 m synchro

Steele Alexander Johnson (born June 16, 1996) is an American diver. He has won multiple national titles at both the junior and college level. He made his Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Games where he won a silver medal with David Boudia in the men's 10 m synchronized platform diving competition.

Johnson was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Bill and Jill Johnson. He has an older brother Race and a younger sister Hollyn. Race Johnson plays football for Purdue University, the same college Steele now attends. Johnson started diving when he was 7 years old. He later earned his high school diploma from Laurel Springs School, an accredited, private, online school based in Ojai, California.

On January 21, 2009 at the age of 12, Johnson had what could have been a career- and life-ending injury. He struck his head on the concrete platform during a reverse 3 ¹⁄₂ somersault in tuck position and had his scalp "ripped in half", he said. He fell 33 feet into the water and was motionless until rescued by his coach. Johnson says he is incredibly lucky to be alive, and that his injury truly changed who he was as both an athlete and a person. He has occasionally elaborated on his head injury. Johnson said in a video posted to YouTube video that the dive is now his favorite dive to practice: "Something that almost killed me has become the thing that I'm best at." He also revealed that he still suffers from memory loss due to the accident.

Steele believes that the accident happened for the better and it allowed him to train harder after recovering. He says that he was able to apply what he learned from the accident to make him a more successful athlete.

Steele trained under Adam Soldati at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center on the club level with the Boiler Diving Academy before enrolling at Purdue. He represented USA Diving at the FINA Diving World Cup in the summer of 2014, winning bronze with David Boudia in synchronized 10-meter platform. Johnson was a six-time senior national champion with USA Diving before enrolling at Purdue, including 10-meter platform winner at the 2013 USA Diving Winter Nationals, 15-time junior national champion, four-time champion at the junior Pan-Am Games.