DIVING coach Louise Bishop knew Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anthony Harding was a star in the making at the age of five-and-three-quarters.
“The first time I saw Anthony in the water, when he was like a penny, the blood drained out of my body,” explained Saddleworth-based Louise.
“I thought ‘wow’ he has got talent. For me, that was it at the age of five-and-three-quarters.
“I said to his mother do you want him to go all the way as he had the talent?”
Louise added there were three key ingredients in the success of any diver – drive, talent and support both in terms of coaching and parental backing.
“That goes into being a winning combination and Anthony had all them on what has been quite a journey.”
Louise added there is film footage of Anthony, who was a member at Oldham Diving Club until the age of 10, being on the one-metre springboard for the first time aged six.
“He was in a wetsuit and shivered a lot but, even then, we knew he was something special,” she continued.
There is also a short documentary, made by a film student, when Anthony was aged 11 and he spoke of his dream of competing at the Olympic Games.
Louise, who lives at Grains Bar, was poolside in Birmingham to see Anthony win gold.
She explained: “I said to Anthony’s mum Louize that if he went to a major competition I would go and be sat next to her crying our eyes out together … and we did that.
“It was an incredibly proud moment for me and also Team Harding, mum Louize, dad Paul and sister Anna.”
Louise added there was also a thought for the late Geoff Eccles, Anthony’s coach for his first competitions, when he was at Oldham Diving Club.
And it is a measure of how influential Louise has been to Anthony’s career that he earlier gave her his first Great Britain kit as a Christmas present.
There was also another special moment in Birmingham when Anthony was photographed with former Olympic Games medallist Leon Taylor who provided television commentary on his gold-medal performance.
Anthony has a signed photograph of him with Leon aged six at the start of his journey.
“I texted Leon with the story and later they were photographed together as everything had gone round full circle. Leon gave Anthony a massive hug and that, too, was very emotional.”
Anthony won Commonwealth Games gold with Jack Laugher in the men’s synchronised three-metre springboard.
The pair, who linked up after last year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, also recently won silver the same event at the world championships which were held in Budapest, Hungary, in what has been a breakthrough year for Anthony who has his sights set on the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.