Domonic Bedggood

A broken back ended Domonic Bedggood’s first sporting dream… but set him on the path to another one.

As a teenager, Gold Coast diver Domonic was a gymnast with a bright future in that sport. But a serious accident as a 16-year-old, when a routine flip on the high bar went wrong, left him with a broken back and forced a change of sport.

"I'm a big believer in everything happens for a reason," Domonic said. "I don't really know how my gymnastics career would have panned out.

"Gymnastics is a very hard sport to make it, especially in Australia. It's really tough."
Domonic needed six months to recover from the injury before making a cautious return to the gymnastics mat.

"I tried to come back but my back didn't hold up like it used to," he said.

"I had to make a decision, I guess, to stop gym and look elsewhere, (find) other sports to participate in.

"The aquatics centre was right across from the gymnastics centre, and I knew a few Olympic divers there who were good friends of mine. Divers always want gymnasts to come and try … because we're so similar.

"I went 'why not – it can't hurt'."

It didn’t hurt, of course, and Domonic made his Commonwealth Games debut in Glasgow in 2014, claiming gold in the men’s synchronised 10m platform with Matthew Mitcham. At the 2015 world championships, he teamed up with Melissa Wu to win bronze in the mixed 10m event.

After a dominant performance at the Australian titles in 2016, Domonic made his Olympic debut at the Rio Games, competing in the men’s 10m platform. Making it through to the final, he finished 12th on 403.80 points.

As a local, Domonic was a Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games ambassador. He claimed gold on the 10m platform and bronze in both the 3m springboard synchro with Matthew Carter and 10m synchro with Declan Stacey.

After taking a long break from the sport, Domonic returned in time for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022. His bronze in the 10m synchronised with Cassiel Rousseau was his third consecutive medal in the event, each with a different partner.

He also finished fifth in the mixed 3m synchronised with Anabelle Smith and sixth in 10m mixed synchronised with Melissa Wu.

At the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Domonic and Maddison Keeney won silver in the mixed 3m springboard.

The following year, in Doha, they went one better, claiming the gold to help Australia achieve its best medal haul in diving at the world championships.

The experienced combination won with a nicely executed final dive — the most difficult attempted by any pair in the final.

That pressurised fifth and last attempt — a pike, forward two-and-a-half somersaults with two twists — proved the best of the final round, stretching out the lead they had held since the second.