Ellie Cole

When teenage star Ellie Cole first climbed up to a 10m platform as an 11-year-old, diving queen Melissa Wu was her hero. Within a few years, Ellie and Melissa were friends and rivals. And at the Paris Olympics, they will be Australian teammates.

It is something Ellie, a Year 12 student at Sydney’s Presbyterian Ladies College, still finds a little hard to get her head around. Melissa, she said, is her sporting hero because she is “very hardworking, resilient and kind.”

Ellie, who was born in New Jersey, USA, to an American father and a mother with Indigenous Australian and Ukrainian heritage, switched from gymnastics to diving when she was 11 after a friend suggested it.

“I thought to myself, ‘Why not’,” she said. “I found that I really like flipping in the air, because I feel free but in control at the same time … there is so much to do, yet it’s simple.

“It’s kind of like an art and I like to think it’s pretty. It’s also a lot of fun to do, and I love to push myself. And sometimes it’s scary, but once you get over that fear, it’s great fun.”

Ellie made the diving world sit up and take notice when she won two gold medals at the American Cup in Indianapolis, USA, in April 2024 – her first international competition. She won the 10m platform and the 10m synchronised, with fellow NSW diver Ruby Drogemuller.

In June, she went head-to-head with Melissa for the 10m platform title at the Australian championships, with the veteran just getting the edge.

NSW Institute of Sport head diving coach Chava Sobrino – who refers to “our Ellie” to differential her from the Paralympic swim star of the same name – believes his young protégé oozes rare talent. “Her style is very aesthetic … it’s very powerful … she enters the water beautifully,” Chava said.

“When you see her in the air, it’s like looking at artwork. It’s as if someone has drawn a beautiful picture. Very artistic, and there isn’t a lot of people around the world who are like that in the air.”

Ellie’s favourite subjects at school are maths and physics and she hopes to study engineering once she completes her HSC.