Summer Olympics 2000 Third dive the charm for Wilkinson

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Sunday, September 24
Third dive the charm for Wilkinson
Associated Press

SYDNEY, Australia -- Laura Wilkinson never stopped smiling.

Even before she stunned the powerful Chinese divers to win America's first Olympic gold in 36 years on the 10-meter platform Sunday, Wilkinson grinned every time she walked to the edge of the 33-foot tower.

Unlike her stern-faced competitors, Wilkinson looked out at the huge crowd, seeking out the faces of her family and supporters jauntily waving U.S. flags. Their loud cheering increased the confidence she already felt.

"That's her calmness. That's the way she approaches things," said Ken Armstrong, her coach.

Wilkinson, 22, broke up the Chinese women's stranglehold on platform, in which they had won four straight Olympic titles.

"I didn't know if it was possible at first, but I had nothing to lose," said Wilkinson, whose only other international platform medal was gold at the 1998 Goodwill Games.

She finished first with 543.75 points, just 1.74 points ahead of China's Li Na, who had 542.01.

"It's a nice surprise," Armstrong said. "The U.S. needed a shot in the arm big-time, and this is going to spur the rest of the kids on. There's some great talent on our team."

Anne Montminy of Canada, competing in her third Olympics, earned bronze with 540.15.

"I was very nervous. I knew it was right in front of me," said Montminy, who plans to retire and practice law. "I've screwed this up so often and I really didn't want to screw this one up."

China's Sang Xue, 15, and the 16-year-old Li were 1-2 after the preliminaries and semifinals. Montminy and her teammate, Emilie Heymans, were in third and fourth places coming into the five-dive final.

Sang over-rotated on her third and fourth dives, creating big splashes that hurt her marks. Her third dive, an inward 3½ somersault tuck, was especially devastating, with marks ranging from 4.5 to 6.0. She ended up fourth.

"It's very hard to handle," said Wang Min, a Chinese coach. "That China lost this gold is very sad. The Olympics can be bitter like that."

Li dropped from first to third on her third dive, a forward 3½ somersault pike that earned 5.5s to 6.0s.

"I didn't realize my dream today, which is a shame," Li said.

Wilkinson, of The Woodlands, Texas, was diving on a foot broken in March. She wore a kayak shoe to protect the bones that protrude into the bottom of her foot, then tossed it off the tower before diving.

"I've gotten so used to it after the last six months that it's not that bad," said Wilkinson, who postponed surgery until after the Olympics.

She took over first for good on her third dive, a reverse 2½ somersault with a tuck, which earned marks ranging from 9.0 to 9.5. She entered the water with barely a splash.

That's the same dive that landed Wilkinson on her first Olympic team at the U.S. trials in June, where she received mostly 10s.

She emerged smiling from the water, and blew a kiss to the television camera from the hot tub.

"I heard the scores, but I didn't know how close I was," she said.

Her fourth dive, an inward 2½ somersault from the pike position, has often been a troubled one. But she nailed it with mostly 8.5s and 9.0s from the seven judges.

"I knew I had it in me somewhere," she said.

Wilkinson came into the final in fifth place behind the Chinese duo and the Canadians. For the first time since 1968, she was the lone American in the platform final after Sara Reiling of Roseville, Minn., failed to advance out of the semifinals.

Lesley Bush was the last American woman to capture the platform in 1964. American Mary Ellen Clark won platform bronze in the 1996 Atlanta Games, the first time since 1912 that Americans didn't win at least one diving gold.

"Maybe this is the rebirth of USA diving," Armstrong said. "It's huge. It was time."

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