Cassiel Rousseau

A 2023 world champion, Cassiel Rousseau made a late entry into the sport of diving seeking a change of pace, leaving behind a highly successful career in gymnastics, where he trained at the Robertson Gymnastics Academy in Brisbane.

Cassiel stunned the world of diving at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, when he won a gold medal, denying China a clean sweep, just seven years after his first formal diving lesson.

Before making the transition to diving, his teenage life revolved around acrobatic gymnastics, winning the athlete award of distinction for his performances at the 2016 Acrobatic World Championships in China, where he was the flag bearer for Australia.

Elite sport runs in Cassiel’s family – his brother Liam and sisters Oceane and Elodie are also accomplished gymnasts, competing at the national level. Their grandfather, Frenchman Michel Rousseau, was also an elite cyclist who won gold at the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956.

Cassiel was 16 when he began diving after accompanying one of his sisters to a diving trial.

“I was kicking and screaming because of my fear of heights but I went along anyway and jumped off the one metre, then three metre springboards very naturally,” he said.

Soon he was stunning more experienced competitors, taking out first in the 3m springboard and second in the 1m springboard at his first junior nationals event. 
He was invited to compete at the FINA World Junior Championships that year, but was unable to dive for Australia due to a back injury.

Just 12 months into his diving career, he was selected to join the Sport Australia Hall of Fame scholarship program, under the mentorship of Ironwoman champion Karla Gilbert.

The partnership proved beneficial as Cassiel made his debut on the FINA Circuit as an 18-year-old in Calgary, Canada. He competed in three events, producing a best result of fourth in the men’s 3m synchronised springboard alongside Matthew Carter.

In 2019, Cassiel competed at the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, China. His performance, which saw him finish ninth, guaranteed Australia a place in the men’s 10m platform event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

At the 2021 Australian Open Championships, which also doubled as the Tokyo qualifying event, Cassiel claimed his spot on the Australian team.

On Olympic debut in Tokyo, a 20-year-old Cassiel advanced to the final of the men’s 10m platform where he finished a commendable eighth. Only two Australians have performed better in this event on the world stage – Beijing gold medallist Matthew Mitcham and Mathew Helm, who won silver at Athens 2004.

Cassiel produced a spectacular near-perfect final dive to snare gold in the men’s 10m individual at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. He also won bronze in the 10m synchronised with Domonic Bedggood and the 10m mixed synchronised with Emily Boyd.

Cassiel then took on the best divers on the planet at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in July 2023 and won gold in the 10m platform. Ranked ninth after his first dive, he climbed up the standings to take the lead with his fifth effort and then scored 98.05 for an expertly executed forward four-and-a-half somersault tuck on his final dive to clinch victory. It was the only gold medal in the competition that didn’t go to the dominant Chinese competitors.

"Everything is a result of the high degree of effort and consistency that I put up in relation to my training,” Cassiel said.

"Besides that, I tried to stay true to myself and the values that I hold dear. In the world of diving anything can happen. Anyone can become the world champion.”

In June 2024, Cassiel secured his place at the Paris Games when he put on a dominant display to edge 18-year-old Jaxon Bowshire for the 10m platform title at the Australian championships in Adelaide.