By Nadia Gush, History Curator, Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato
Self-taught, aspiring diver Robin Hood hitch-hiked from Whanganui to Hamilton over Queen’s Birthday weekend in 1959. Arriving in Hamilton’s pea soup fog, Robin was on his way to find Mervyn Campbell, a local coach known for his intention to produce a diving champion from within New Zealand.
Robin became the champion Merv was looking for. Placing in the 1959 and 1960 national diving championships under Merv’s guidance, Robin was a finalist in the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica, eventually becoming New Zealand’s first Olympic judge when he sat pool-side as a FINA-appointed springboard judge at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984.
Robin wore this vibrant orange adjudicate blazer, now in the collection of Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, at the 1984 Games - a far cry from the old rugby jerseys he and his friends had used for diving practice in the 1950s. Robin was part of the judging committee scoring the performance of American Greg Louganis, who made history as the first athlete to win back-to-back gold medals in both springboard and platform diving events.
While this moment in Olympic history was a highlight in Robin’s career, so too was his involvement in the 1996 Olympic diving finals in Atlanta. Merv, Robin’s coach and longtime friend, was judging at the Atlanta Olympics, which made them personally significant. As Robin reflects, “both of us were assigned to the Men’s 3 metre springboard final… as destiny would have it, Merv as one of the seven judges and I as the Referee. During the event I felt extremely privileged to be sharing this special time together on the diving pool deck, mentor and student, now in roles that, in times past, were in the realms of impossible fantasy!”
Merv’s Olympic diving pins are also in the collection of Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, as are Robin’s commonwealth diving togs.
Merv received a MNZM in 1999 and Robin a ONZM in 2018.
Robin's diving togs and Merv's Olympic pins
More on Robin Hood's sporting achievements:
Sport has been a life 'anchor', former Commonwealth athlete says | Stuff