In June, 11 US divers qualified for the Olympic Team at the USA Diving Olympic Trials. 5 of those divers train at the Woodlands Athletic Center: Troy Dumais, Justin Dumais, Justin Wilcock, Kimiko Soldati and Laura Wilkinson. Laura earned a gold medal in platform diving at the 2000 games and Troy finished sixth in the individual springboard in Sydney and fourth in synchronized springboard in Sydney. The other 3 will be first timers at this year's games.

Catherine has worked with these divers for the last year and a half to help prepare them for the Olympic Trials and ultimately for the Olympic Games. Although these are elite athletes, they have similar nutritional challenges as the rest of America.

Justin Wilcock started thinking of food more as fuel for his body than for merely pleasure. "Knowing that I can go into a competition confident that I will be healthy from a nutrition standpoint gives me that much more confidence that I will be ready for that peak performance. As we know my eating habits didn't have a huge affect on my weight, but it did affect my energy and overall feelings about being in shape and ready for competition. I really like what Catherine said about thinking of the food that we eat as the fuel for our bodies. Because of this I think twice before fueling my body with things that will not aid in my training. This has helped me to cut back on sweets."

For these divers, training is their full time job, however this sport is not a high calorie burner and they are judged by their diving skills but also on how their body appears in the air. "Working with Catherine has truly helped me understand how to get the most 'punch' for my calories. She really helped me with choices and variety. She made it so easy to see that eating smart and lean is a simple life-style choice" stated Kimiko.

A big challenge that these divers face is international travel. Many athletes become comfortable with certain foods prior to competition and they may be hard to access in other countries. This is especially true for Laura who is a vegetarian. For each of her trips we would brainstorm on the protein sources that would be available to her in that country and then she brings food with her to supplement such as protein bars, protein shakes and canned tuna. "I learned a lot more about how to eat when we travel. Especially traveling internationally- Catherine helped us plan ahead and put more thought into how and what we eat when we are on trips. My attention to nutrition this year is so important- I would hate to train my whole life for something like the Olympic Games and have a slack in my eating affect my performance negatively. Nutrition has become just as important to my training as any other aspect (weights, conditioning, etc.)" says Kimiko.

The Athens Olympic Games begin on August 13th. Be sure to cheer our divers on as they go for the gold.