Ethan Pitman
Montreal Diving Institute About Ethan Pitman
Ethan Pitman is in his fifth year diving out of Club CAMO in Montreal under the coaching guidance of César Henderson. He studies commerce at Concordia University and plans to graduate in 2021. He would like to work as an accountant and plans to start his CPA later in the year.
As is the case with many athletes, Pitman found the 2020 season difficult with the wipe out of most of the competitive calendar and not being able to see friends and family. However, training has been relatively normal since the summer.
He is also battling a painful left wrist injury that’s lasted for years and particularly affects his handstand dives. He had surgery on the wrist in September 2020 and he is learning to manage the pain for competitions.
Pitman was initially in gymnastics as a youngster and then at age nine switched to diving. Only three years later he won his first medal at junior nationals and that triggered his ambition to seek the higher echelons within the sport.
However, he was also a talented snowboarder and at one point he felt a decision needed to be made between his winter and summer passions. He describes himself as an adrenaline junkie and the daily rush he gets in diving, both in competition in training, is unmatched.
His focus in 2021 is the 10-metre individual and synchro with partner Laurent Gosselin-Paradis. Before the pandemic hit, Pitman was enjoying some international success with a gold medal with Gosselin-Paradis at a FINA Grand Prix in February 2020 along with an individual silver and a gold at nationals.
Pitman says his victory on tower at the 2020 Nationals in December 2019 was the highlight of his career. That has given him confidence that he has the potential to make the Olympic team in both events.
He has gained a lot of international experience over the last few years competing on the Grand Prix circuit since 2014. In 2017, he won his first senior national title on 10m at Winter Nationals and competed at the 2017 World Championships on 10m. The 2019 World University Games team member, is still the only Canadian diver to win four gold medals at a single Junior National Championship.