[1] At this time, he was considered among the best divers in Canada and during a tour of Europe, won a gold and silver medal in Madrid, as well as a bronze in Split, Yugoslavia.
In 1974, he was spending all of his spare time on swimming and diving practice lessons, which also necessitated a lot of cash from his parents to fund his training.
Snively had ambitions to win a gold medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, although conceded that he didn't want diving to "become his life" and vowed to quit if he ever began to hate it.
[2] During the 1980 Olympic trials, he finished third and qualified for the final berth on the national team, but missed his opportunity when Canada boycotted the event in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
[4] During the Canadian National Winter Championships which took place during March 1981 at Pointe Claire, he won as the men's overall champion and received a $1,000 scholarship from Adidas-Arena.
He had previously intended upon participating in the World Masters Championships in 2014, only to sustain a knee injury and later needed an emergency appendectomy in January 2017.
Born in July 1960,[4] Snively attended John Rennie High School in Pointe Claire, Quebec, and was described by a classmate as a quiet, average student.