Robert Morgan first took to his sport by diving into the seas off the cliffs at Llantwit Major. From there he graduated to the high board at the old Empire Pool in Cardiff and quickly went on to become one of the most permanent fixtures on the world diving scene for more than 20 years.
If you ask him to count up how many high and spring board British titles he won, he won’t be able to tell you. But you’d need more than two hands. You’d need more than two hands for the number of European and World Championships he attended and you can then add in five Commonwealth Games and four Olympics.
On the medal front there were notable achievements at the European Championships, with a bronze in Athens in 1991 and then a silver in one of his later training facilities in Sheffield two years later. On the Commonwealth Games circuit he won a full house of medals – there was bronze in Edinburgh in 1986 off the 10 metre platform, gold in Auckland in 1990 and silver in Victoria, Canada in 1994.
His career ended after the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, when he and his diving partner Tony Ali sold their kit to help pay for a night out and a holiday. After years of living largely below the breadline, given the paucity of grants handed out to their sport, the story hit the headlines. Things improved from there on in and the next generation of divers, like Tom Daley, wanted for nothing.
In typical fashion, he went from the high board to the pantomime boards after he finished his competitive career, doing stunts and earning £60 per day at Legoland for diving off the rigging into the water below.
Robert Morgan (Diver) Born in Cardiff on 27 March, 1967
