According to the International Swimming Federation, here are some rules governing the panel of judges for a diving competition.

• When enough judges are available, the panel of judges for the semi-final and final competition consists of judges whose nationalities are different from those of the divers.
• The judges are placed on each side of the springboard or platform in use. When this is not practical, the judges are placed together on one side.
• Once placed, a judge shall not change position unless at the discretion of the referee, and then only in exceptional circumstances.
• Any judge unable to continue to function after a competition has started shall be replaced by a reserve judge.
• After each dive, on a signal given by the referee, each judge shall immediately and simultaneously, without communicating with one another, and in a distinct manner, indicate the award for the dive.
• The judges' awards shall be displayed on the electronic scoreboard, preferably unseen by the judges. The awards (without any other information about the standing of the competition) must be seen by the judges on their score pads.

Because Olympic scoring is done by humans, there is always a possibility of bias for the judge's home country. Check out this article about five of the biggest Olympic scoring scandals.

Watch the videos of five dives. Then answer the checkpoint question.

Sample answer:

Dive 1

I awarded this dive an 8.5 because it was well-executed. The diver's toes were pointed and feet were touching. The diver reached a sufficient height above the board when diving. There was very little splashing on entry. The diver was straight up and down on entry to the water.

Dive 2

I awarded this dive a 9.0 because it was well-executed. The diver's toes were pointed and feet were touching and the diver reached a decent height above the board when diving. There was some splashing. The diver was straight up and down on entry to the water.

Dive 3

I awarded this dive a 9.5 because it was very well-executed. The diver's toes were pointed and feet were touching. The diver was very composed throughout the motion of the dive and the dive was very acrobatic. Splashing was minimal and the diver's entry was in a straight up and down position.

Dive 4

I awarded this dive a 10.0 because it was incredibly well-executed. The diver's toes were pointed and feet were touching. The diver's acrobatics were incredibly well done and there was minimal splashing. The diver entered the water in a straight up and down position. What was particularly striking about this dive was how half-way through it changes from a tucked-in position to a flawless straight up and down position right before hitting the water.

Dive 5

I awarded this dive an 8.5 because it was well-executed. The diver's toes were pointed and feet were touching. The dive did not seem as composed as some of the others. The height from the board when jumping was not extremely high. There was some splashing. The acrobatics were well done but not as high-level as some of the others. The diving form looked a little loose.