Tom Dinsley came to Vancouver in 1945 and dominated men’s diving in BC for eight consecutive years from 1958-65. He attended, and was athletically involved with, the University of British Columbia and Indiana State University. After retiring from competitive diving, he coached the Haney Neptunes diving club.

Dinsley was BC provincial diving champion from 1958-65 and Canadian national champion from 1962-65.

While competing for the University of British Columbia, Dinsley was the Canadian university diving champion in both the one-metre and three-metre diving events.

Dinsley was one of the cornerstones of Indiana State University’s powerful varsity swimming and diving team when that university was ranked number one for those sports.

He won silver in three-metre diving at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. A year later he won gold in the same event at the 1963 Pan American Games. Dinsley’s gold medal ended up being the only gold won by Canada in the aquatic events.

He was a member of the 1964 Canadian Olympic team, competing in the three-metre and ten-metre diving events.