The 1952 diving events were held at the Helsinki Swimming Stadium, which was also the site of the swimming events and the water polo tournament, but not the swimming section of the modern pentathlon, as that sport was held in Hämeenlinna, which is 100 km north of Helsinki. There were four diving events – 3-metre springboard and 10-metre platform for men and women, which remained the standard Olympic diving program through 1996. United States’ divers won all four events, as they would from 1924-56, and 9 of 12 medals. [Pat McCormick] doubled for the US in winning both women’s events, and she would repeat that in 1956.

The Americans swept the medals in this event, as they did at every Olympics from 1932-52. The gold went to [Skippy Browning], who led both the qualifying and the final. Silver medalist Miller Anderson repeated his second-place finish from London. The bronze went to [Bob Clotworthy], who would return in four years to win the gold medal in Melbourne.

Browning and Anderson both died young, Browning under tragic circumstances. He was a Navy fight pilot and died in a crash in March 1956 when he was only 24. Anderson had also been a fighter pilot, but in World War II. He would died from a heart attack in 1966, aged 44. Clotworthy became a diving coach and a well-known historian of diving in his later years.

The men's 3 metre springboard, also reported as springboard diving, was one of four diving events on the Diving at the 1952 Summer Olympics programme.

The competition was split into two phases on different days:

• Preliminary round (27 July) – Divers performed six voluntary dives of limited degrees of difficulty. The eight divers with the highest scores advanced to the final.
• Final (28 July) – Divers performed six voluntary dives without any limits of difficulty. The final score was the aggregate of the preliminary and final rounds' points.

[Sammy Lee] defended his gold medal from London, winning quite easily in both the qualifying and final rounds. Mexican [Joaquín Capilla] won the silver medal, improving from his bronze in London. He would continue to improve and in Melbourne won this event to become the first Mexican to win an Olympic diving gold medal. Lee was a physician, specializing in otolaryngology (ear-nose-throat). He later also coached diving, with two of his pupils starring in the Olympics – [Bob Webster], the 1960-64 platform gold medalist, and [Greg Louganis], who won pretty much everything he entered.

The men's 10 metre platform, also reported as high diving, was one of four diving events on the Diving at the 1952 Summer Olympics programme.

The competition was split into two phases held on different days:

• Preliminary round (31 July) – Divers performed six voluntary dives of limited degrees of difficulty. The eight divers with the highest scores advanced to the final.
• Final (1 August) – Divers performed four voluntary dives without any limits of difficulty. The final score was the aggregate of the preliminary and final rounds' points.

[Pat McCormick] won gold on the springboard in Helsinki, the first of her four Olympic diving gold medals, as she would win the double/double in both Helsinki and Melbourne. Second-place went to Frenchwoman [Mady Moreau], who was born in Vietnam, and had been seventh on the springboard in 1948. Her silver medal broke a run of American medal sweeps in women’s springboard that went back to 1920. The bronze was won by [Zoe Ann Olsen-Jensen], who had been the silver medalist in 1948, as Zoe Ann Olsen, before her marriage to major league baseball star Jackie Jensen.

The women's 3 metre springboard, also reported as springboard diving, was one of four diving events on the Diving at the 1952 Summer Olympics programme.

The competition was split into two phases held on different days:

• Preliminary round (29 July) – Divers performed five voluntary dives of limited degrees of difficulty. The eight divers with the highest scores advanced to the final.
• Final (30 July) – Divers performed five voluntary dives without any limits of difficulty. The final score was the aggregate of the preliminary and final rounds' points.

[Pat McCormick] completed the springboard/platform double, three days after winning her springboard gold. This had only been accomplished by a woman at the Olympics before in 1948 by [Vicky Draves], but McCormick would return in 1956 and win both events again to complete a double/double. Although McCormick remains the only woman to have accomplished this at the Olympics, [Greg Louganis] also won the men’s diving double/double in 1984-88. The Americans swept the platform medals, with [Paula Jean Myers] winning silver and [Juno Irwin] the bronze. The three would again sweep the platform medals in 1956, although Myers and Irwin would reverse positions.

Myers would compete at the Olympics again in 1956 and 1960, winning four medals in four events, but never managing a gold. Irwin was a platform specialist who competed in 1948 at London, placing fifth, and would also dive at the 1956 and 1960 Olympics, improving to a silver in 1956, but missing the medals in 1960 when she placed fourth. Irwin won her 1952 bronze medal despite being 3½ months pregnant while competing in Helsinki.