Today the Federation International de Nation Amateur - the world governing body for aquatics - lists nearly 90 different types of dives that may be performed at various levels of difficulty. Some of the basic dive types are; forward dives with the body facing the water and the dive made forward; backward dives with the back to the water and rotating away from the board or platform; reverse dives with the diver facing forward, but the rotation of the body back towards the board; inward dives with the back to the water and rotating inward towards the board or platform; twisting dives made from either starting position with body twisting in the air; arm-stand dives made from the platform only - the diver begins the movement sequence from a motionless hand stand on the platform's edge.

Diving body positions include tuck, pike, straight and free. Tuck means that the body is bent at the knees and at the hips, with the knees held together and drawn to the chest; pike means that the body is bent at the waist with the legs straight; straight means that the body is not bent; and free refers to a combination of 2 or more of these positions.

Diving is a bruising activity. Platform divers are more missile than body as they hurtle through the air to hit the water at speeds of as much as 80km per hour.
The world record high dive of 53.9 metres[176 ft,10in] was performed by Oliver Favre of Switzerland in France in 1987. The women's record is 36.8 metres[120 ft, 9in], by American Lucy Waidle in Hong Kong in 1985.