--- title: Rio 2016 Olympic Diving: Women's Diving Champions description: As you check out the world's best divers in action at the Summer Olympics, take a look back at how LIFE Magazine covered the sport canonical: https://time.com/4447086/dive-champion-photos/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-18T12:00:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:35.334Z og:title: Rio 2016 Olympic Diving: Women's Diving Champions og:description: These photos prove that the writer who said so didn't get the point og:url: https://time.com/4447086/dive-champion-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70daf73cc49a54eb/6988a1e7e20a87d723a91fff/160810-champion-divers-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: 1959 Diving og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rio 2016 Olympic Diving: Women's Diving Champions twitter:description: These photos prove that the writer who said so didn't get the point twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70daf73cc49a54eb/6988a1e7e20a87d723a91fff/160810-champion-divers-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # When Champions of Women's Diving Were Called 'Athletes Second, Girls First' > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Aug 18, 2016 12:00 PM UTC  The sports feature in the May 4, 1959 edition of LIFE magazine showcased a series of black and white images of young women attending the A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. A Show Of Pretty Plungers told the story of almost 200 women who came to compete in the swimming and diving championships. Because of the extreme heat, the meet was held outdoors. According to LIFE, “It was as much a show of youth and beauty as of swimming and diving.” The colorful images that follow in this gallery were not published in the original photo essay, but they illustrate the grace and beauty of the expert divers who were seen in the competition. The sports feature in the May 4, 1959 edition of LIFE magazine showcased a series of black and white images of young women attending the A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. A Show Of Pretty Plungers told the story of almost 200 women who came to compete in the swimming and diving championships. Because of the extreme heat, the meet was held outdoors. According to LIFE, “It was as much a show of youth and beauty as of swimming and diving.” The colorful images that follow in this gallery were not published in the original photo essay, but they illustrate the grace and beauty of the expert divers who were seen in the competition. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Aug 18, 2016 12:00 PM UTC The 1959 swimming and diving championships of the Amateur Athletic Union, which were held in Palm Beach, Fla., didn’t exactly look like the diving events that can be seen this week coming out of the [Summer Olympics](http://time.com/4414700/best-summer-olympics-photos/) in Rio. Even though the event was supposed to be the indoor championships, it was held outside due to the heat. And the 200 or so girls and young women of the AAU were representing schools and local clubs, not [nations](http://time.com/4431034/rio-olympics-ancient-history/). They wore the same [modest one-piece bathing suits](http://time.com/4383860/swimsuit-evolution-bikini-origins-history/) that can be seen in many poolside photos from the 1950s, not the sleek and modern suit today’s divers wear. Finally, perhaps unsurprisingly for 1959, much of the attention they garnered—at least [in the pages of LIFE magazine](https://books.google.com/books?id=YEgEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA64#v=twopage&q&f=false)—focused a great deal on the looks of the “pretty plungers,” rather than their skill. The burnt cork that they applied below their eyes, to minimize the glare off the water, was compared to eyeshadow. They could not, LIFE noted dismissively, “disguise the fact that they were athletes second, girls first.” The pictures that ran alongside the story were black and white, and provided no information about who won or what the events even were. But the photographer, [Peter Stackpole,](http://time.com/3871322/photographer-spotlight-peter-stackpole/) also captured these vivid color images of the divers in action. And, seeing them now, it’s clear that LIFE’s unnamed writer didn’t quite get the point. Decades later, we can’t know how central athleticism was to any of these women’s identities, but they _were_ athletes, no hedging required. Though Stackpole did not record who among his subjects proved victorious, his photos provide evidence that a gravity-defying dive could be as impressive then as it is today.  The sports feature in the May 4, 1959 edition of LIFE magazine showcased a series of black and white images of young women attending the A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. A Show Of Pretty Plungers told the story of almost 200 women who came to compete in the swimming and diving championships. Because of the extreme heat, the meet was held outdoors. According to LIFE, “It was as much a show of youth and beauty as of swimming and diving.” The colorful images that follow in this gallery were not published in the original photo essay, but they illustrate the grace and beauty of the expert divers who were seen in the competition. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A diver at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A diver at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A diver at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A diver at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A diver at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A diver at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Divers at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A diver at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A diver at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A diver at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Divers at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A diver at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A diver at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A diver at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Divers at the Women's A.A.U. Indoor Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was so hot at the meet in 1959 that the event was held outdoors. 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