David Boudia, a four-time Olympic medalist and the U.S.’ lone individual Olympic diving champion over the last two decades, announced his retirement at age 33 on Wednesday, 15 months after his last meet.
“What a ride it’s been! The time has to come to officially announce my retirement from the sport that has shown me so much,” was posted on his social media. “It’s with great contentment and excitement, I close this chapter and move on to the next. You always hear people say you’ll know when it’s time to hang it up and I never really believed that. I do now. I took my final dive at Olympic Trials in 2021 and the following months were rough. But ever since that dive, not once have I had a feeling of ‘I need to get back in.’”
Boudia made his Olympic debut in 2008 at age 19, then won an epic platform final at the 2012 London Games to become the first American to take diving gold since Laura Wilkinson in 2000 and the first American to win the men’s platform since Greg Louganis in 1988.
Boudia then earned platform bronze in 2016. He added synchronized platform bronze in 2012 (with Nick McCrory) and silver in 2016 (with Steele Johnson).
Boudia, after contemplating retirement after the Rio Games, competed for the last time at last year’s Olympic Trials, placing third in the springboard to miss the team by one spot. He finished 4.45 points out of an Olympic spot after more than 1,300 points worth of dives.
Boudia turned to coaching last year at his alma mater, Purdue, and attended the world championships in Budapest this summer in that role.
“I look forward to continuing to be immersed in the diving world as a coach and see what the next chapter holds,” he posted. “Eyes set for Paris 2024, just in a new role!”
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