KIMIKO
HIRAI SOLDATI
OFFICIAL SITE
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OFFICIAL SITE |
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Former Longmont athlete savors berth in Games By
Kyle Ringo, Camera Sports Writer She drew pictures and dreamed and drew some more. Refrigerator art for mom and dad but a glimpse into the future for sure. An impressionable 10-year-old Longmont girl watched Mary Lou Retton win a gold medal 20 years ago in the 1984 Olympics. She was hooked by the majesty of the moment and the way Retton's smile touched so many. Kimiko Hirai Soldati understood then all she needed to know about the Olympics. She wanted to be a part of them. "Magical things happen there," she said. No one would argue the point, but in Soldati's case, the magic might have already occurred in just reaching the Games. She has endured seven surgeries on her shoulder and knees and hasn't been able to train for two consecutive years at any point in the past decade. Soldati earned her spot this month on the U.S. Olympic Diving Team for the Summer Games in Athens by winning the 3-meter springboard competition at the Olympic trials. She won despite missing the previous two years after tearing her bicep muscle from the bone for the second time. She only resumed training over the winter. Her strongest competition for the gold medal will likely come from China's Jing Jing Guo and Russian Yulia Pakhalina. But Soldati isn't about to overlook anyone. "When you're at this level, it really is anybody's medal," Soldati said. "There is a handful of girls who could win on any day." She hopes to earn a gold medal for the country which forced her grandparents into a Japanese internment camp in Idaho during World War II. It's where her father, Gary, was born. She hopes to win for her mother, Judy, who died after battling breast cancer in 1991. She hopes to win for her coach, Kenny Armstrong, whom she credits for her success. "The dream never died in me," she said. "There was never a time I can remember when I didn't think I could make an Olympic team. I was really afraid to say it at first, but you have to believe it before it happens." She had hoped to participate in three events in Athens but did not qualify in the 10-meter synchronized dive with good friend Laura Wilkinson, or in the 10-meter platform. Soldati turned to diving as a teenager when a complete knee reconstruction spoiled her chances to follow in Retton's shoes as a gymnast. Her father suggested the sport and she excelled at Longmont High School. It's a twist of fate she describes as a "total blessing." She went to Colorado State for one year and began to believe she had potential mixing her tumbling background with water. She transferred to Indiana University in search of the best coaching she could find. Soldati won a national championship at Indiana on the 1-meter board in 1996 despite an accident earlier in the season in which she struck the board, tearing her right bicep from the bone for the first time. She was part of three national championship teams in college and graduated as the valedictorian of the school of HPER in Kinesiology. A rash of injuries kept her out of the water for long stretches after college. Prior to winning the 1-meter title at the 2001 Spring National Diving Championships she had never qualified for international competition. She insists she never doubted it could happen. It was merely waiting for hard work and fate to collide. "I never sat down and thought, 'Why am I doing this?'" she said. "I sat down and cried my eyes out. Every time I did that was really more motivation. It made fuel for the fire. Other people doubted me." Soldati went to the Goodwill Games later that year with few believing she had a chance at a medal. She earned bronze and became the only medalist on the U.S. team in the process. She spent the past weekend in Longmont relaxing with friends and family, many of whom are planning trips to Greece. She's back home in Magnolia, Texas, this week and back in training for the national championships in July. "You work so hard for your goal for so long (that) when it happened it was such an emotional experience," she said. "Now the way I look at it is this is where I expected to be." |
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