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Nicky Cooney

Personal information
Birth name	Nicola Val Cooney
Born	1966 (age 57–58) Rotorua, New Zealand
Sport
Sport	Diving
Medal record Women's diving Representing  New Zealand Commonwealth Games 1990 Auckland 3 m springboard

Nicola Val Cooney (former married name Riordan; born 1966) is a New Zealand police officer and former diver. She represented her country at the 1986 and 1990 Commonwealth Games, winning a bronze medal at the latter. Since 2023, Cooney has been the Eastern Bay of Plenty area commander in the New Zealand Police.

Early life and family

Cooney was born in Rotorua in 1966, the daughter of Val and Denis Cooney. Her mother was a physical education teacher and her father owned a septic-tank company. She took up diving when she was eleven years old. She began her secondary education at Rotorua Girls' High School, but later became a boarder at Waikato Diocesan School in Hamilton to be able to train daily at the deep-water pool at the University of Waikato.

Diving

In 1982, Cooney was selected for the diving squad as part the New Zealand schools swimming team that competed at the Pacific Schools Games in Brisbane.

At the 1983 New Zealand national diving championships, Cooney finished second in both the women's open one-metre springboard and women's open tower events, and won the Hansells Trophy for the highest-scoring individual dive by an age-group competitor. She was subsequently named in the 15-strong New Zealand team to compete at the world age-group championships held in Hamilton later that year, where she placed eighth in the 15–17 girls' one-metre springboard competition.

In 1984, Cooney reached the qualification standard for the 1984 Olympic Games, but was not selected for the New Zealand team. However, she began competing on the North American diving circuit during the Northern Hemisphere summer. In early 1985, she was part of the four-person New Zealand team that competed in Australia at the Australia Day diving competition and at the Australia Games. In March that year, Cooney won the women's three-metre and tower titles at the New Zealand diving championships, and was runner-up in the women's one-metre springboard event.

In early 1986, Cooney was a member of the New Zealand team at the Southern Cross international diving series in Australia. At the New Zealand championships in March that year, she was injured while competing in the women's platform event and had to withdraw from the event. However, she recovered to win the three-metre springboard title. Later that year, Cooney competed in the three-metre springboard at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, finishing fifth with a score of 469.62, a New Zealand record score for the event, surpassing the record previously held by Ann Fargher.

In 1987, Cooney retained her national three-metre springboard title, and the following year she was again overlooked for selection to represent New Zealand at the 1988 Summer Olympics. In 1989, she competed at the FINA Diving World Cup in Indianapolis.

At the 1990 Commonwealth Games held in Auckland, Cooney competed in the women's one-metre springboard, in which she finished in eighth place, and the three-metre springboard event where she won the bronze medal. Also in 1990, Cooney was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.

Police career

In 1990, Cooney joined the New Zealand Police, and undertook a range of duties, including frontline and road policing. After taking a six-year break from the police, she returned and became head of the road policing team in Rotorua, before serving in various managerial roles at district headquarters. In 2023, Cooney was appointed Eastern Bay of Plenty area commander.

References

1. ^ Nicholas, Jill (30 July 2016). "Our people: Nicky Riordan". Rotorua Daily Post. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
2. "N.Z. schools' swimming team". The Press. 10 May 1982. p. 3. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
3. "Diver's three titles". The Press. 10 March 1983. p. 6. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
4. "Pride intact despite Australian sweep". The Press. 14 March 1983. p. 22. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
5. "Championship trophies". 14 March 1983. p. 22. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
6. "N.Z. diving team named". 23 March 1983. p. 32. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
7. "N.Z. diver wins bronze medal". 16 August 1983. p. 8. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
8. "Diving team chosen". 24 January 1985. p. 32. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
9. "Vallance in command". 12 March 1985. p. 38. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
10. "Cooney wins diving duel". 14 March 1985. p. 44. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
11. "Diving team named". 22 January 1986. p. 68. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
12. "National diving championships". 12 March 1986. p. 8. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
13. "Unruffled Vallance takes three-metre diving title". 17 March 1986. p. 23. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
14. "N.Z. diving pair put in top performances". 1 August 1986. p. 7. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
15. "Incessant rain nightmare for Scots cycling officials". 1 August 1986. p. 8. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
16. "Individual records fall at championships". 23 March 1987. p. 25. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
17. "Chinese help for divers". 20 April 1989. p. 33. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via PapersPast.
18. Nicky Cooney at the New Zealand Olympic Committee
19. Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 106. ISBN 0-908578-34-2.
20. ^ "A job worth waiting for". Ten One Magazine. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 17 September 2023.

• 1966 births
• Living people
• Sportspeople from Rotorua
• Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand
• Divers at the 1986 Commonwealth Games
• Divers at the 1990 Commonwealth Games
• Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for New Zealand
• Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games
• Commonwealth Games medallists in diving
• New Zealand police officers
• New Zealand female divers
• 20th-century New Zealand sportswomen