Matthew thanks Chava for Creating Inclusive Training Environments

As Sydney celebrates WorldPRIDE week, the NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) is celebrating the power of sport to provide an inclusive environment for LGBTQIA+  communities and the incredible coaches at the coalface creating these safe spaces.

“I can’t highlight enough the importance of making sports safe and inclusive environments for everybody,” former NSWIS scholarship holder Matthew Mitcham said.

The Olympic gold medallist was thrown a lifeline 15 years ago by NSWIS Diving Head Coach Chava Sobrino, who provided an inclusive and caring training environment for the young man troubled by his sexuality and experimenting with drugs.

“I would like to thank my coach, Chava.

“He actively created an inclusive training environment so that I knew I was accepted for exactly who I was which had the most profound effect on my self-esteem, which helped me be very present in my training sessions and helped me be very analytical.”

In the space of just 15 months, Matthew went from retired athlete, wrestling with addiction to being an Olympic gold medallist, Olympic record holder and the first openly gay Olympic champion.

“Matthew is a very special person, with an incredibly good heart,” NSWIS Head Diving Coach Chava Sobrino said.

Back in 2008 prior to the Beijing Games, Chava advised Matthew not to publicly announce his homosexuality, fearing the media firestorm and sport distraction, encouraging him to wait until after the Olympics.

“He said ‘no’, this is who I am. And he got 100% empowerment and used this to be proud of being the first declared gay to compete in the Olympic Games and win an Olympic medal,” Chava said.

In a sport where Olympic medals are few and far between, Chava’s longevity and success in diving is extraordinary. He has been to nine Olympic Games, including one as a competitor and eight as a coach, overseeing a medal haul of four Olympic medals.

“A good coach needs to be able to connect with athletes and their performance team. You need a lot of emotional intelligence, to be able to control your emotions and you need to keep learning about those things.”

“On top of the technical aspect, I motivate my coaches to develop their own personality and model of coaching. I help and comment where I can, but I don’t want them to be the same as me.”

The softly-spoken and humble diving coach first went to the 1980 Olympics, representing Mexico in the sport. Following a career-ending injury, Chava turned his love for diving to coaching and oversaw a bronze medal for his home country at the 1988 Games.

Moving to Australia in the mid 1990s, he coached Loudy Wiggins and Rebecca Gilmore to win the bronze medal in the women’s synchronised platform at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

“Loudy also won a bronze medal at Athens but had moved to Brisbane six months before the Games so technically I was not her coach for that medal.”

He went on to coach Matthew Mitcham to his famous gold medal in the 10m platform, denying the Chinese their eighth gold in diving in Beijing. He guided Mel Wu to fourth in London where she just missed the podium and a fifth in Rio, finally winning a medal in Tokyo when she won the bronze medal in the 10m platform.

“Diving is a beautiful sport. It is an extreme sport, like the Redbull events, but at the same time it is an artistic sport and that combination for me is really appealing.”

“It has been appealing since I was a diver as it is an adrenalin rush to do what no one else can do, to put yourself in danger and at the same time make it beautiful.”

Chava has been in the sport for over 30 years and has embraced the last two decades as a coach at NSWIS.

“Coaches are here not just to create medals but humans. One of the amazing things about NSIWS is they help the athletes. Esther Qin, Melissa Wu – these athletes are now coaching and being developed by NSWIS, which speaks very highly of the organisation’s culture.”

Not wanting to sound cliché, Chava not only tries to keep an open mind and an open door but an open heart as a coach for his athletes and performance team. His mobile lights up with the name Alex Croak during our discussion.

“It’s more than phone calls, I meet with Alex and her children Daisy and Banjo. I still meet with Loudy and Rebecca.”

He went above and beyond for Matthew, sacrificing his own health to guide him on his journey to sobriety when he relapsed after the Beijing Games.

“There were two gold medals with Matthew,” Chava said.

“There was the Olympic gold medal journey and then there was the journey trying to get him off drugs. I was trying to save the human, on no contract, and I had to confront a lot of prejudice.”

He has overseen incredible an change in the sport; changes to the rules, to the equipment, to technology, to training and as a consequence to the results.

“Now there is a bubble machine, to soften the water landing. There is video analysis. The springboards are very advanced so you get more air.

“You train with minimum amount of load to get better results. That is a difficult calculation to do, but coaches with experience can master it and get good results. The way you define your program is intricate.”

With just over a year to the Paris Games, Chava is planning to be at this tenth Olympics not only to guide his athletes but also his performance team.

“I have a few players for Paris and I have a succession plan.”

And he remains close with Matthew Mitcham and has a very good relationship with him.

“We have a lot of laughs – he was broadcasting the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and we caught up. He is so funny, so articulate, so smart. He has learned Spanish to speak with me, a little Chinese, he speaks French, and has learned to play the ukulele.”

WorldPride celebrates and advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community. The international festival unites with Sydney Mardi Gras and takes place from 17 February to 5 March 2023 in Sydney.

NSWIS