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Oliver Dingley. Julian Herbert

No world final but Irish diver still beaming after Rio qualification

His Olympic spot is in the bag and that’s all that matters for the 23-year-old right now.

IRELAND’S LATEST RIO hopeful, Oliver Dingley, narrowly missed on a world championship final spot in Rio de Janeiro yesterday.

The 23-year-old finished 15th in the semi-finals of the 3m springboard, following his 11th-place finish in the preliminaries, which left him three spots shy of qualification for the final.

But Dingley wasn’t getting too down on himself after his semi-final finish.

On Sunday, Dingley became the first Irish diver to qualify for the Olympic Games in 68 years.

He won a bronze medal for England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games but declared for Ireland later that year through his grandmother from Spike Island in Cork.

The last time Ireland had a diving representative at an Olympics was in London 1948, when Dubliner Eddie Heron qualified.

Ireland’s Natasha McManus was also in action in Rio but a 47th-place finish ended the 17-year-old’s world championships in the preliminaries.

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