One of the earliest historical records of diving is from 480 BC called 'Tomba del Tuffatore [the 'tomb of the diver'], it is a huge burial chamber to the south of Napels, Italy, that houses, high up on a roof slab, a painting of a male athlete diving from a small elevated platform. Diving was popularised by the Germans and the Swedes in the 18th and 19th centuries, who took various pieces of apparatus to the beach and used these to perform gymnastic stunts prior to entering the water.

Competitive diving began in Great Britain in 1883 with the Amateur Swimming Association setting up the first plunging competition. The plunge was a head-first crouching dive, rather like the modern racing dive off starting blocks.