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Life's Twists Turn for Soldati at 30
The gymnast-turned-diver overcomes injuries and pain of losing her mother to
earn a chance at the Olympics
By Dan Arritt, Times Staff Writer
The scars on her body detail the diving career of Kimiko Hirai Soldati. They
might also represent symbols of her strength.
The jagged line that stretches over her right kneecap is what's left of her
first surgery, the one that ended her promising gymnastics career but not
her hopes of becoming an Olympian.
Photo by: Allen J. Schaben/ LAT
And the dime-sized marks on her right shoulder mark the
four attempts to
repair injuries that have repeatedly kept her grounded over the last nine
years.
But dealing with pain is something Soldati has learned to master. She had
prime examples while growing up in Colorado. Her father, Gary Hirai, was
born in a Japanese internment camp in Idaho during World War II and her
mother, Judy, fought breast cancer for eight years before dying in 1991 at
age 43.
Through it all, Soldati did not sway from her goal of making the Olympic
journey, even if pain came along for the ride.
"I'm feeling really confident," said Soldati, who at 30 will try in her
first Olympics to become the oldest U.S. female diver to win a medal. "I've
just got to get my body healthy."
Soldati won her specialty, the three-meter springboard competition, Saturday
at the Speedo National Diving Championships at the Mission Viejo Recreation
Center, but said she needed two cortisone injections to stem the shoulder
pain she was feeling after Wednesday's semifinals.
Although it was hardly the most important event of the summer, it one was of
her better efforts.
"I'm so proud of her," said Kenny Armstrong, her coach at the U.S. training
center in The Woodlands, Texas. "Mainly because she showed how tough she is
today."
She first injured the shoulder in 1995 while at Indiana, landing awkwardly
on her first dives from a 10-meter platform. She ignored the injury long
enough to win an NCAA title the next year, but during the 1996 Olympic
trials was diagnosed with a torn biceps.
More shoulder injuries hampered her qualifying efforts for the 2000 Games.
But she persisted, moving to Magnolia, Texas, shortly after the Sydney
Olympics to train under Armstrong, who is credited with the development of
Laura Wilkinson, a 2000 Olympic gold medalist in the women's 10-meter
platform, along with a handful of other Olympians.
Soldati was named athlete of the year by USA Diving in 2001 and 2002. She
underwent her fourth major shoulder surgery last fall to repair scar tissue
and recovered in time to prepare for last month's Olympic trials. As the
oldest competitor, her experience helped her pull out a victory on her final
dive in the three-meter springboard competition, securing one of 11 spots on
this year's Olympic diving team.
"I was absolutely awash with emotion," Soldati said. "All of the surgeries
and countless days I couldn't dive, then to see it happen.. "
Wilkinson, Soldati's teammate at the training center in The Woodlands and
her synchronized diving partner, said she brings more to the team than
simply an acute diving ability.
"She's such a good role model," Wilkinson said. "She cares so much about
people . always has great advice. She's one of the greatest people ever."
Soldati said she draws strength from her faith, her husband, Adam Soldati,
and her parents.
Judy Hirai died the summer before Soldati's senior year of high school. She
began wearing her mother's gold wedding band when she married Adam, a former
college coach, in 2000.
She switches the ring from her left hand to her right when diving, allowing
more comfort when interlocking her hands.
On the few occasions when her 89-year-old grandmother, Mae, mentions her
family's three-year stay at internment camps, where Gary was born in 1945,
bad feelings don't fester. She has never heard her relatives complain about
being sent to internment camps along with thousands of other
Japanese-Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor even though her
grandparents were born in the U.S. and had purchased a home in Seattle.
"Looking back, it was certainly a dark period in our country's history,"
Soldati said. "But I'm always amazed at how my family has not passed on any
bitterness. We're proud to be a Japanese-American family, which at one time
was put in an internment camp but has emerged to represent the U.S. in the
Olympics."
Soldati, whose was born Kimberly Mae Hirai but quickly adopted a nickname
from her father, was born in Longmont, Colo.
She began diving in high school after the end of her gymnastics career, then
continued her career at Colorado State.
It wasn't until Soldati was a freshman in college that she began competing
in the three-meter springboard. The next year she transferred to Indiana,
where she met her future husband.
After watching Wilkinson win gold at the 2000 Games, Soldati decided to move
to Texas to train with Armstrong, the U.S. national team coach since 1989.
Adam Soldati had an established coaching career in Indiana but "didn't bat
an eye" when Soldati told him of her wish to move to Texas. He soon followed
and resumed his career at the training center.
"I couldn't have done this without the super support of my husband," Soldati
said. "We speak the same language, and he completely understands the
sacrifices that need to be made."
Even with Wilkinson returning, some believe Soldati has the best chance
among U.S. women of winning a diving medal.
"I look at [my age] as an advantage," she said. "I'm a lot more emotionally
balanced. I realize that diving is not who I am, it's what I do. It's hard
for a lot of athletes to get there."
Any disadvantages?
"I'm a little beat up," she said with a smile.
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