REID Grace

General
MOVE TO LONDON
In late 2017 she moved to London, England, to train with Dive London Aquatics and work with coach Jane Figueiredo. "I am really happy in London, as a big city it can either swallow you up or help you soar and I was a bit overwhelmed at first, but I am very used to it now [speaking in early 2020] and the diving set-up could not be better for me there. Ever since I was a young diver I have always responded well to new things, change and being outside my comfort zone. The diving squad I have around me and the coach/athlete dynamic I have at the moment has really helped me." (scotsman.com, 27 Feb 2020)

EARLY CAREER
At age 14 she represented Scotland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. She says she was disillusioned with the sport at the time and leading up to the next Commonwealth Games in 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland. "The years between Delhi and the next Commonwealths in Glasgow were really tricky. I still dived but the passion wasn't shining as brightly. I remember saying to my mum, 'I want to be normal, I want to be normal'. Normal to me was going up town on Saturday afternoons and not smelling of chlorine. I didn't enjoy school massively and felt quite isolated because of my diving. Maybe school wasn't easy for me but I found new friends and a whole other family in diving. My mum and dad were fantastic but chaperones become second mums and coaches looked after me at camps abroad and I came to look back on adventures like Delhi for what they were - brilliant experiences." (scotsman.com, 21 Jul 2018)

FAMILY
Her grandfather dived in exhibitions as a schoolboy, but neither her mother Liz nor father Allan were divers, and never steered her towards the sport. "My mum used to cover her eyes when she watched me in the gallery dive off 10 metres when I was just five years of age." (scotsman.com, 17 Apr 2014; inthewinningzone.com, 01 Mar 2008)

She became the first Scottish female diver to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games when she claimed victory in the 1m springboard at the 2018 Games in Gold Coast, QLD, Australia. (teamscotland.scot, 20 Apr 2018; SportsDeskOnline, 05 Apr 2019)