Star diver hails return of Euro aquatic contest to London

London Evening Standard

with BENEDICT MOORE-BRIDGER


The European Aquatic Championships are returning to London for the first time since 1938, a period when Adolf Hitler was trying to use sport to prove the superiority of the Aryan race.


Helping promote the competition in May is former diver Edna Child, who won a bronze in the three-metre springboard event that year.


While the forthcoming championships — billed as the biggest sporting extravaganza in the capital since the 2012 Olympics — will be at Zaha Hadid’s Aquatic Centre, Ms Child, 94, competed at the old Wembley pool, which she toured recently.


The Romford grandmother said: “Starting in the 1936 Olympics, Hitler was suddenly promoting the master race theory. We heard at that time what was happening in Germany. He sent a team for the European championships with a lot of men and two women.