Champion Australian cliff diver Rhiannan Iffland has backed the sport’s push to enter the Olympic Games, trumpeting its growth and appeal as she sharpens her focus on a competition at Sydney Harbour.

Iffland will hurl herself off a 21-metre platform near Mrs Macquarie’s Chair as the final round of the Cliff Diving World Series plays out on the weekend, although the 33-year-old from Lake Macquarie has already guaranteed she will be crowned world champion.

Iffland, an unstoppable force in her field, will clinch the title for an eighth year in a row.

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World Aquatics is lobbying for the International Olympic Committee to make cliff diving, also known as high diving, an Olympic sport.

Iffland threw her support behind the sport’s Olympic bid when asked about it in an interview with Wide World of Sports at Budgy Smuggler Bondi.

“There are talks about it heading in that direction soon. Hopefully I’ll still be involved,” Iffland said.

“I think the sport’s really growing. World Aquatics has started to add more events. This year we had three World Aquatics events, so that’s a very good sign, and we’re seeing facilities go up around the world, more younger divers.

“All the signs are there, but let’s see if we get there.”

Pool diving was introduced to the Summer Olympics at the 1904 Games, held in St. Louis, the USA, and has featured at every Games since.

As individuals or in pairs, pool divers leap off either a three-metre springboard or a rigid 10-metre platform.

In cliff diving, men dive from a 27-metre platform and women a 21-metre platform, plummeting into natural water such a lake or the ocean.

Cliff diving won’t make its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles 2028 Games, but the sport’s bosses are hopeful it will join the mix in Brisbane in 2032.

Asked which cliff diving locations are her favourite, Iffland pinpointed Sydney Harbour, Japan’s Takachiho Gorge and Italy’s Polignano a Mare, all of which make for awe-inspiring backdrops as the high-adrenaline sport plays out.

“I think it would have the most spectators out of any sport [if it was included at the Olympics],” Iffland said with a laugh.

“Maybe I’ve exaggerated, but I think it would be a good fit, it would be a good addition. It would be an extension of [pool] diving.”

Iffland had a long career in pool diving and had Olympic ambitions, but fell out of love with it and spent a couple of years out of the sport.

She then spent about three years working as an aquatic acrobat on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, a thrilling time in her life that led her down the path of cliff diving.

Asked if she was fearful of cliff diving, her answer was immediate.

“Always. Every single time. It never gets easier,” said Iffland, an athlete sponsored by Red Bull and Budgy Smuggler.

“It’s not changed from the first one to the 250th dive that I’ve done.

“In regular diving you have those fears, those feelings, but it’s multiplied when you go up [to cliff diving].

“It also depends on what you’re doing; if you’re doing more complex, complicated and difficult skills then you’ve always got those feelings, but I don’t think there’s any way to [erase those fears in cliff diving].

“You’re dealing with the natural elements, as well.

“In cliff diving there’s a hundred things to think about, but when you’re diving there’s a few. I think that’s the biggest thing.”

Iffland admits that on at least one occasion she’s stood on a cliff diving platform and hasn’t felt ready.

“There’s been one or two times where I’ve walked down because I’ve been like, ‘OK, I’m too calm, I need to be a bit more alive and awake and with all my senses activated’,” she said.

“Sometimes you go into this hyper-focus and the only thing you can think about is what you’re about to do. I’d say it’s very silent up there. You’re in your own mind when you’re standing on the platform, and you’re trying to just have a few thoughts in your mind.

“It’s amazing. You’re full of adrenaline, you’re full of excitement, so it’s a very cool thing.”