Steele Johnson

Steele Johnson

Steele Johnson (left) and David Boudia at the Rio Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Steele Alexander Johnson
National team	United States
Born	(1996-06-16) June 16, 1996 Indianapolis, Indiana
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Sport
Country	United States
Event(s)	10m, 10m synchro
College team	Purdue University
Club	Boiler Diving Academy
Medal record Men's diving Representing the United States Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 0 1 0 FINA Diving World Cup 0 0 1 Total 0 1 1 Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro 10 m synchro FINA Diving World Cup 2014 Shanghai 10 m synchro

Steele Alexander Johnson (born June 16, 1996) is an American diver.^[1] He has won multiple national titles at both the junior and college level.^[2] He made his Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Games where he won a silver medal with David Boudia in the men's 10 m synchronized platform diving competition.

Early life

Johnson was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Bill and Jill Johnson. He has an older brother Race and a younger sister Hollyn.^[1][3] Race Johnson plays football for Purdue University, the same college Steele now attends. Johnson started diving when he was 7 years old.^[1] He later earned his high school diploma from Laurel Springs School, an accredited, private, online school based in Ojai, California.

On January 21, 2009 at the age of 12, Johnson had what could have been a career- and life-ending injury. He struck his head on the concrete platform during a reverse 3 ¹⁄₂ somersault in tuck position and had his scalp "ripped in half", he said. He fell 33 feet into the water and was motionless until rescued by his coach. Johnson says he is incredibly lucky to be alive, and that his injury truly changed who he was as both an athlete and a person. He has occasionally elaborated on his head injury. Johnson said in a video posted to YouTube that the dive is now his favorite dive to practice: "Something that almost killed me has become the thing that I'm best at."^[4] He also revealed that he still suffers from memory loss due to the accident.^[5]

Steele believes that the accident happened for the better and it allowed him to train harder after recovering. He says that he was able to apply what he learned from the accident to make him a more successful athlete.

Diving career

Steele Johnson and David Boudia at the Rio Olympics

Steele trained under Adam Soldati at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center on the club level with the Boiler Diving Academy before enrolling at Purdue. He represented USA Diving at the FINA Diving World Cup in the summer of 2014, winning bronze with David Boudia in synchronized 10-meter platform. Johnson was a six-time senior national champion with USA Diving before enrolling at Purdue, including 10-meter platform winner at the 2013 USA Diving Winter Nationals, 15-time junior national champion, four-time champion at the junior Pan-Am Games.

Johnson was the first diver since Purdue alumnus David Boudia in 2009 to win NCAA titles on springboard and platform in the same year. During his freshman year at Purdue, Johnson also won CSCAA Diver of the year, Big Ten Diver of the Year, Purdue Male Athlete of the Year, Two-time All American (1-meter and platform diving), Honorable Mention All-American (3-meter Diving), World Championships Qualifier (Synchronized 10-meter). Johnson also was selected as the Big 10 Diver of the Week 8 times during the 2014-2015 season. ^[6]

2016 Olympic Games

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Johnson won a silver medal in men's synchronized 10 metre platform diving with his partner David Boudia. Johnson and Boudia scored a 457.11.^[7]

In the 10 meter platform individual event, Johnson placed 13th with a score of 447.85.^[8]

2016-2017 College Diving Season

During the 2016 season Johnson received silver on 1 meter springboard and qualified for the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. ^[9] Johnson won bronze on 3-meter and finished in the top four of all three diving events at the Big 10 Diving Championships. Steele scored a 470.05 points on one-meter, surpassing Boudia's previous record of 468.55 set in 2010. Additionally, Johnson won his first Big 10 conference title for platform diving with a score of 547.8. Johnson was also named First Team All-Big Ten.^[10]

Personal life

Steele is majoring in film and video studies at Purdue with a goal of becoming a director or cinematographer. On the side, he also produces, films, edits, and stars in his own daily vlogs on his YouTube channel. He also made his acting debut in a student film entitled "Blood And Water".^[11] Johnson is a Christian.^[12][13][14]

Johnson married Hilary Nussbaum on June 23, 2017.

References