KIMIKO
HIRAI SOLDATI
OFFICIAL SITE
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OFFICIAL SITE |
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Diver's dream comes true
She wasn't ready to go off the 10-meter platform, but she did it anyway, and she did it wrong. When she hit the water at almost 35 mph, her right arm jerked violently behind her head, ripping her shoulder joint. That impetuous dive at Indiana University cost Kimiko Hirai Soldati nine years of pain and anguish, four surgeries and a shot at making the 2000 Olympic team, but she was feeling no pain Saturday. Soldati won the 3-meter springboard event at the diving trials in St. Peters, Mo., to realize her Olympic dream at last. "It's incredible, it's beyond words," said Soldati, who grew up in Longmont. "If I had to sum it up, I'd say I'm very, very grateful considering everything I've been through up to this point. I'm going to Athens!" Soldati, 30, was the oldest diver at the Olympic trials. "It just shows how hard work, persistence, belief in yourself and in your dreams can pay off," Soldati said.
Her coach, Kenny Armstrong, calls her "one of the most gifted athletes this country has ever had," but on Friday he was worried for her. The night before, Soldati had failed in her bid to make the Olympic team in synchro platform with Laura Wilkinson. "I think she needs a break," Armstrong said. "She's done everything she can possibly do to get to the point where she can excel and let her physical talent show. If it works out, she deserves it. If it doesn't work out, there is no justice, and there isn't in this sport anyway." Soldati can only wonder what might have been if she hadn't gone off that 10-meter platform at IU before she was ready, but the tower was the reason she transferred from Colorado State, which didn't have one. She didn't want to be just a springboard diver. "I probably didn't really have any business being up there," Soldati said. "I didn't quite know what I was doing. When I hit water I wasn't tight." For all of its grace and elegance, platform diving is a violent, high-impact sport. It batters those who practice it, spraining wrists, wrenching backs, breaking thumbs, inflicting headaches. It's a 33-foot free fall with a hard landing guaranteed. "The water can manhandle you, or you get pummeled," Soldati said. "You hit that water a little bit off, man, you can get absolutely rocked." At first Soldati was unwilling to concede her shoulder was seriously damaged. She continued to dive in pain and denial for almost a year, winning an NCAA title on the springboard in 1996. Shortly after that, while attending the Olympic trials, she was examined by a doctor who told her just what she didn't want to hear. "He said, 'Oh, boy, you need surgery right now,"' Soldati recalled. "It was a bummer because I realized I had a lot of potential, I was just getting started in the sport and 'Bam!' I was taken out of it for a year." She had surgery No. 1 and tried to come back nine months later, but had a lot of pain and underwent surgery No. 2. She sat out another year, tried to come back and still had a lot of pain. This time the doctor said she didn't need surgery, just another six to eight months away from her passion. "There's three years down the drain, pretty much," Soldati said. "It was very frustrating. It was hard to love something so much and have it taken away from you." She resumed training in December 1999 in hopes of making the 2000 Olympic team, but didn't qualify for the Olympic trials. She married former IU diver Adam Soldati, moved from Longmont to Texas to train with an enclave of top American divers at The Woodlands, and her diving took off. She won her first U.S. title in 2001 and a silver medal in the 2002 World Cup. She was U.S. diver of the year both years. "Things were looking good," Soldati said. "Then again, 'Bam!' I crashed on a dive at the national championships." The MRI showed a rotator cuff tear. During surgery No. 3, doctors found another problem: Her biceps muscle had been ripped off its attachment, and probably had been that way for a long time. Soldati tried to come back last summer, but she was having trouble with shoulder mobility. Surgery No. 4, to deal with scar tissue, was performed in September. "Ever since then, it's been doing really well," Soldati said. "I still have pain, but it's a healthy shoulder. It's as healthy as a 30-year-old shoulder with four surgeries can be." Soldati's father, Gary Hirai, says she never got discouraged because she always had hope, and that kept her going. "She just has this dream, and she always has," said Hirai, who was born in a Japanese internment camp in 1945. "She didn't want to think back, 'What if?' When she does hang it up, she wants to know she's given everything." Soldati said she wants to start a family, but that doesn't mean she'll retire after competing in Athens. "Even though I'm 30 years old and people think that's the tail end of most careers, I feel like I'm just starting," Soldati said. Staff writer John Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com. |
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