From an Olympic springboard to the Bearacuda pool: Meet Helle Tuxen

The Harpeth Hall Bearacudas have welcomed another Olympian to the program — this time on the pool deck. Helle Tuxen, who represented Norway in the 3-meter springboard at the 2024 Paris Olympics, joined the Harpeth Hall team this winter as the school’s new diving coach. 

Before competing on the international stage, Coach Tuxen was a kid transforming bellyflops into something of beauty at odd hours in worn-down pools — and, when water wasn’t available, turning staircases and running tracks into training grounds. That resourceful and determined mindset represents who she is as an athlete and a coach.

In the Q&A below, Tuxen reflects on the unconventional training environments that shaped her early years, how Olympic-level competition taught her to embrace failure as part of progress, and why she is excited to build a diving community at Harpeth Hall as yet another Olympian to proudly wear the HH.

Q: You grew up in Norway without easy access to a pool, yet made it to the Olympics. What do you remember most about those early training years?

A: The first thing that comes to mind is my parents — they were so incredibly supportive. We still trained at the pools that were run down and trained at the most ridiculous times. We usually had morning practice from 5-7:30 a.m. and school from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Then we had practice from 7-10 p.m. The pools that we had around only had 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards that were impossible to use because they had rails all the way to the edge of the board. They also had a 5-meter board but the pool depth was too shallow so every time we used it we had to stop the dive so quickly in order not to break our nose. 

We did have a pretty amazing pool in Norway, but it was four hours away. My parents took me there as often as we could — weekends, holidays, and pretty much every vacation we had. It was hard sometimes. I did miss a lot of birthdays, events, and social life, but I would do it a thousand times over. I set a goal, and I understood early on what it took to get there. There will always be another birthday, party, or special event, but there will only be one time in my life I can put this much effort and time into something I love doing.

Q: How did competing at the Olympic level shape who you are today — both in and out of the pool?

A: I am incredibly honored and proud to call myself an Olympic athlete, and I truly believe my sport itself shaped me into who I am. From the age of 6, I knew I was going to the Olympics. I did not have a plan yet of how to do it. I just knew that’s what I was going to do. After missing the Olympics in 2020, I had to take a month or two to reevaluate and understand how and why I did not make it. I thought if I worked hard enough and I believed in myself, one day it would work. And three years later, it did work. 

Reflecting on that later, I truly understood that diving is very similar to the real world. You bellyflop every day and it hurts for a bit, but you get back up and do it over and over again until you understand how NOT to bellyflop anymore. Now that I work in the corporate world, I have learned how to translate my skills in the pool into the office. I will fail a hundred times, but for every time I will learn just one thing to adjust and to learn from until I understand. Diving has shaped me to be a lot more patient than I ever thought, failing more times than I succeeded, but looked at it as "succeedingly" in failing.

Q: As a coach, what lessons from your own journey do you most hope to pass on to young divers?

A: Confidence. My mom always taught me and my three sisters to be confident in everything we did. Diving was the platform where I could be the most confident and reckless person. In diving, you have to be confident, or even if you don’t feel confident, you have to pretend; the judges on the sideline will deduct points if you don’t walk on the springboard with your head held high. 

Confidence starts with body language. If your shoulders are rolled back, and head and body up high and straightened up, subconsciously you are tricking your body to perform better, that’s the first thing I learned in diving, and what I am hoping to pass on to my divers.

Q: What drew you to Harpeth Hall, and what excites you most about coaching here?

A: Definitely the opportunity and the people. What I mean about the opportunity is that I see so much potential and so many ideas for how we can grow and create a diving community. The staff and divers have been so welcoming and supportive towards me. They have given me the trust and support to teach these wonderful kids, and they want to help me share the love I have for diving at this wonderful school.