THORNLANDS resident Emily Meaney is an emerging talent to watch in Australian diving.
The 17-year-old Ormiston College student won the 2014/15 Australian Open Women's 10-metre Platform Diving event at the Australian Championships in Adelaide on December 12.
After starting her diving career at the age of eight in Tasmania, Diving Australia gave her a QAS scholarship to relocate with her family to Queensland, where the AIS diving program is located.
Emily, who juggles almost 30 hours of training each week with her school studies, said while winning the national event was "a bit of a surprise" the success had encouraged her to continue training for Olympic competition.
"I really like diving and I've been diving at an elite level for six years," she said.
"I was hoping to get more than 300 points at the competition and I got 301.8.
"I've never won any open competitions before so I didn't go in expecting to win."
Emily said she was now aiming for selection into the 2016 Australian Olympic diving team.
"The Olympics is my ultimate goal," she said.
"Then I'd like to compete in the 2018 Commonwealth Games."
"I think I have a chance of getting there if I keep going as I am.
"I just have to keep training hard and keep going."
