Diver Shaye Boddington overcomes bulimia to head to world championships

Shaye Boddington of Auckland is heading to the FINA world championships this month. Photo/supplied

Shaye Boddington was 17-years-old when she gave up diving because she couldn't stand the way she looked in her togs.

More than 14 years later, the Auckland woman has overcome bulimia and stepped back onto the platform.

She will be one of four divers representing New Zealand at the FINA World Championships in Budapest in Hungary this month.

Her ultimate goal is to compete in the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo.

She was just 10-years-old when she became bulimic, and suffered from the disorder until the age of 20.

Now she is fully recovered and back chasing her dreams.

She claimed the top spot in the Women's FINA Open-1 metre Springboard at the eighth Singapore National Diving Championships in June.

Boddington has been training at West Wave Pool and Leisure Centre in Henderson for the past eight months, six times a week, with her two coaches Cordelia Norris and former British Olympic dive team coach Steve Gladding.

"I really just gave it another go out of curiosity. I didn't have any record of that time and I couldn't think how my daughter would imagine me that time of my life so I went to the pools to get some photos done," Boddington said.

The 31-year-old will be competing in the synchronised diving category with young Olympian Elizabeth Cui.

Looking back on when she quit diving in her late teens, Boddington said it was difficult to get better from her disorder while diving.

Shaye Boddington overcame bulimia and has gone on to excel at diving. Photo / Supplied

"Every day when I put on those togs I didn't feel good. I had very low self-esteem.

"It took everything for me to get well. It was like an addiction, full of bad habits. I had to develop a lot of strategies and work on self-love.

"I've fully recovered now and I'm an advocate for overcoming addictions in life. I don't believe people have to live with addictions all their lives."

The 17th FINA World Championships is being held in Budapest in Hungary from July 14 to 30. More than 3000 athletes in six different disciplines will compete in 75 contests.