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Soldati dives into sport with eye on history
James A. Finley / Associated Press file
photos
Gary Hirai, left center, and his mother, 89-year old Mae
Hirai, watch Kimiko Soldati during the Olympic Diving Trials in St. Peters, Mo.,
on June. 4. Gary Hirai was born in 1945 inside the walls of the Hunt Camp — a
Japanese internment camp in Minidoka County, where the United States government
held 13,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II.
Kimiko Soldati on her Olympic chances
Kimiko Soldati, who is battling a bad shoulder, is coming
into the Olympic competition as the U.S. national champion, having won the
Olympic Trials in June. The competition, with 33 divers, starts at 4:30 a.m. MDT
on Wednesday — or 1:30 p.m. in Athens.
Semifinals and finals are Thursday inside the Olympic Aquatic Centre.
"I trained for a gold medal, but when I go into a competition I can't control
that. I cannot control if somebody dives better than I do, so when I'm actually
in a competition, I am focused on my technique, I'm focused on my dive, I'm
focused on enjoying and embracing the moment,'' she said.
"When I do that, and I can get into that zone, that's when I perform my best.
And I do believe if I do perform my best, I can be at the top of that medal
stand.''
Soldati won the U.S. Olympic Trials in June.
Related Links
·
Minidoka Internment National Monument
The Idaho Statesman | Edition Date:
08-24-2004
Check out our Olympics 2004 section for photo
galleries, local TV schedules, stories about Idaho's Olympians and a
Boise-Athens time conversion clock.
ATHENS, Greece — Kimiko Hirai Soldati remembers how her Olympic diving career
began — by sneaking into a Caldwell swimming pool and taking her first plunge
off a high dive.
She was on a quick break from violin camp at the College of Idaho. She was 5
years old, maybe 6.
"I can't remember how old I was, but I do remember getting in trouble because we
weren't supposed to go off the high board and of course I snuck over and tried
it,'' said Soldati, who begins her 3-meter springboard competition Wednesday in
Athens.
"That sounds like something she would do,'' said Gary Hirai, her father.
"She's always been just a little bit wild.''
Hirai, a soft-spoken man unlike his outgoing daughter, has his own unique Idaho
beginning. He was born in 1945 inside the walls of the Hunt Camp — a Japanese
internment camp in Minidoka County, where the United States government held
13,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II.
Hirai's life of confinement lasted two months before he moved to Cascade,
where his father, George, landed a job in a lumber mill. Hirai went on to become
a multi-sport star at Cascade High School, a football player and zoology major
at the College of Idaho (now Albertson College) and married 1964 Boise High
graduate Judy Rhodenbaugh.
She died in 1991 of breast cancer when Soldati was in high school.
Hirai, who moved to Longmont, Colo., in 1969, went on to raise an Olympic diver
who proudly embraces her Japanese-American heritage. From USA Today to People
magazine, NBC and ESPN, her story is being told many times during these
Olympics.
"I think it's interesting how the very country that imprisoned my family is
now lifting me up and honoring me as an athlete to represent them,'' said
Soldati, 30, who wears her mother's wedding band and switches it to her right
hand for comfort when she dives.
"I look back at the history of my family and I'm very proud of the way that they
did not pass on any bitterness, any unforgiveness. That has a lot to do with who
I am today.''
Soldati, who won the U.S. Olympic Trials in June despite being the oldest
diver in the competition, has aunts, uncles and cousins who still live in Idaho.
They've closely followed her career. They all plan to watch on TV this week.
"Kimiko is showing the world that she's standing behind the U.S. despite what
has happened in the past,'' said Sandee Rhodenbaugh of Boise, whose husband,
John, was Judy's brother.
"We're all very emotionally attached to this situation,'' John Rhodenbaugh said.
"Kimiko is one of those people who you just knew was going to do something
major.''
Soldati prepared for the Olympics at a training center in The Woodlands, Texas,
and hasn't been to Idaho since 2000 when the family sold its property in
Cascade. George Hirai — the grandfather who lived in the Seattle area before
being shipped off to the internment camp — was the anchor of the family. From
that first job in the lumber mill, he went on to become the mayor of Cascade. He
has passed away, but helped build Cascade Golf Course that sits on the shores of
Cascade Reservoir. He had a home near the water and the golf course — the
property that was sold in 2000 — and the family called it the 19th Hole.
Gary Hirai and his family, including Kimiko's older brother, Chris, used to
travel from Colorado to Cascade for summer vacations and family reunions until
2000.
"I have so many awesome memories of Cascade,'' said Soldati, a former NCAA
diving champion at Indiana University, where she met fellow diver and future
husband Adam Soldati.
"I have memories of playing golf, driving the cart, almost driving it into the
lake. My cousins and my grandpa built a fishing hole in the back yard. We caught
fish in the lake, put them in the pond, and caught them again over and over and
over.''
The tiny Soldati — she's 5 feet, 1 inch and weighs 110 pounds — will have 19
family members and friends inside the Olympic Aquatic Centre for Wednesday's
preliminaries. They'll be back Thursday if she qualifies for the semifinals and
finals.
The list includes her father, who has watched his daughter reach her first
Olympics despite seven surgeries to her knees and shoulders. In high school,
Soldati switched from gymnastics to diving because the sport was less demanding
on her body.
"The big thing for me is all the hard work she's put in is finally paying off,''
said Hirai, who never remarried and is retired. "She's an amazing woman and is
very excited about representing the United States. That's the way we raised
her.''
Hirai has never been to Japan and can't speak the language. His daughter's birth
name is Kimberly Mae, after his mother Mae Hirai, who is 89 years old and living
in California. Hirai nicknamed his daughter Kimiko, even though he has no idea
what it means.
He's never been back to the internment camp, where a national monument was
established in 2001.
"My mom used to tell me that there was nothing to do, that it was very boring,''
he said.
Likewise, Soldati has never visited the camp where her father was born. "We
don't talk about it very much,'' she said.
Soldati said her family embraces its Japanese heritage, but gets upset when they
are referred to as Japanese and not Japanese-Americans.
"We are Americans and we are very proud to be from this country,'' she said.
"We're also very proud of our Japanese heritage, but first and foremost we are
Americans.''
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