Linda Cuthbert

Born on May 20, 1956,[1] Cuthbert began entering diving competitions at the age of 10 when living in Vancouver after the family relocated there from Toronto. In 1967, the family moved to Beaconsfield, Quebec and she then started to become serious about diving and joined the Pointe Claire Diving Club. She had various coaches for a period of time until Don Webb moved there from Toronto and became her permanent, trusted coach.[2]

Her career began at the age of 14, when she moved away from her family home to train with her national coach Don Webb in Winnipeg, making her first national team in 1971.[3] When she was 14, she secured fifth in the American National Championships.[2] During the Amateur Athletic Union Indoor Platform Diving Championships in 1973, she finished second with a score of 321.30.[4]

She and Cindy Shatto lived with Webb and would move around with him in search of top diving facilities, which necessitated needing to join new schools, make new friends and make life adjustments each time. Although she passed her grade 13 exams, she did not do as well as she liked as she believed the constant changing of schools was disruptive to her education. She also expressed how traveling around would upset her and made her sick more than usually expected, while she also felt lacking in confidence and considered herself as her "own worst enemy", suggesting that she didn't have the experience or consistency as other competitors like Beverley Boys. The first time she traveled abroad, to the Soviet Union and Germany, she would be overcome with fear and during a trial practice, belly flopped from the high tower resulting in a temporary loss of sight, breathlessness and bruising, requiring a hospital visit and subsequent bed rest.[2]

She participated in the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal in the 10-metre tower event, scoring 334.71 compared to Australian Madeleine Barnett, who finished 3rd with 339.30.[5] On missing out on the bronze, she recalled how mad she was at the time and the desire to be better, describing how she "blew a reverse one and a half. Don't do that dive any more".[2] That same year, she won second place at the World Junior Championships[2] In 1975, she was employed by a bank, who would provide her with additional help, allowing her time off work to undertake her intensive training. She would receive an annual training expenses grant worth $600 from the Canadian Olympic Committee[6]

She won a bronze medal in each of the 1975 and 1979 Pan American Games, as well as a gold medal in the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. During her dive in the 1975 games, she broke a strap in her swimsuit, which slipped to her waist and was captured by an underwater camera which broadcast the moment on Mexican national television.[7] In 1977, she was a student at George Brown College[8] and in 1979, was one of four Canadian athletes selected by director Paul Cowan to appear in the National Film Board of Canada documentary Going the Distance, about the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton.[9] By that time, she was being coached by Jim Lambie,[10] who would use swearing and insults towards his divers in an attempt to encourage them to produce brilliance.[11]

She first made the news in 1980 when voicing opposition in Canada's decision to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, saying the only people it would hurt would be the athletes.[3] On her opinion whether countries should have taken action against the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, she suggested that boycotting was not the answer, instead believing that not attending opening ceremonies and athletes turning their back on the Soviet flag when one of their athletes won would be more effective.[12]

In 2002, Cuthbert was known to be president of the Canadian Amateur Diving Association.[15] The following year in 2003, she established her company Breakthrough Performance. Prior to that, she was a managing consultant with the Canadian Olympic Centre and had previously held various roles including in marketing and broadcasting.[16]

Between 2003 and 2007,[16] Cuthbert was the president of the Aquatic Federation of Canada and expressed her devastation in January 2005 at the decision to remove the 2005 world aquatic championships from Montreal due to financial concerns. Cuthbert feared it could set sport in Canada back by several years and questioned the country's commitment to sport, noting that federations looking to host events in the subsequent decade may not have confidence that Canada would be capable of hosting.[17] From 2006, Cuthbert sat on the Board of Directors at the Commonwealth Sport Canada, serving as its vice president and chairs the External Representation Committee, which has a responsibility towards strategy and guideline development for effectively representing the organization to outside entities. She was also a technical official for several commonwealth games events, including the 2006 Commonwealth Games at Melbourne and 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Having dedicated most of her life to sport, she felt a duty to give back, particularly as the Commonwealth Games played a significant part during her diving career and the satisfaction in seeing young athletes achieve success.[16] As of 2021, she chairs the Sport Committee of Commonwealth Sport Canada.

When not diving, Cuthbert worked as a dental hygienist.[3] At the age of 18, Cuthbert measured 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) tall and weighed 104 pounds (47 kg) and was described as being as "pretty as a picture".[2] As of 2021, Cuthbert lived in Toronto, Canada.[16]