BY Sunshine Coast Daily

With three generations of diving glory to their name, the Donnets are no strangers to Commonwealth, Olympic and world championship glory.

You could say they are a diving dynasty.

Family matriarch Barbara Donnet (nee McAulay) was a member of the 1956 Australian Olympic team, after winning gold and silver medals at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in the 10m platform and 3m springboard diving event

Twenty-eight years later, her eldest daughter Jenny won a Commonwealth gold medal on the 3m springboard.

She won silver during the 1986 games and reclaimed her gold in 1990.

Jenny is also the only Australian diver to appear at four Olympic Games and was given the honour of being the flag bearer at the 1992 Barcelona games.

She is now a diving coach and lives with her daughter in Melbourne.

Barbi Donnet Carver, Barbara’s youngest daughter, was the Queensland and Australian diving champion and was the junior world champion at age 13.

She gave up the sport, only to return to it two decades later as both a coach and competitor, winning three gold medals at the 2002 World Masters.

Now Barbi’s son, 16-year-old Jesse Carver, has stepped up to the board and is well on his way to becoming one of this generation’s best divers.

The Kawana Waters State College student recently won two golds and two silvers at the junior elite championships, adding to the gold he won at the world junior titles in Germany last year.

He’s also a coach with his family’s dive school, the Donnet Diving Club, which has branches in Chandler, Brisbane and the Kawana Aquatic Centre.

The blood of champions may flow through Jesse’s veins – as well as his grandma, aunt and mum, his grandfather Tom and great-aunt Irene were also champion divers, with Tom later becoming a coach – but he knows he still has to work to achieve his Olympic dreams.

“I’m hoping to make the 2012 Olympics in London,” he said.

“It’s just such a great sport and diving off the board it feels like you are flying.”

His mum and coach smiled humbly while acknowledging her son certainly has what it takes to make a world champion, but she said the decision to strive for a place in the Olympic team in four years time was entirely up to him.

“If he keeps going the way he is and trains hard, then yes, he definitely has a chance,” Barbi said.

“But we’ll just see how he goes when he gets older and other things begin to take precedence.

“He certainly has the talent, but it depends on how he feels about it all. It is a lot of hard work and it takes a lot of dedication.”

For his part, Jesse seems focussed on making it all the way, while his parents and grandma are happy enjoying the lifestyle the Sunshine Coast offers them, while still staying close to one of their first loves.

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