KIMIKO
HIRAI SOLDATI
OFFICIAL SITE
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OFFICIAL SITE |
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Magnolia woman qualifies for Olympics By: Brian Walzel, Staff Writer 7/8/2004 After the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, The Woodlands embraced one of their own, Laura Wilkson, as a hometown champion. After all, Wilkinson had just shocked the diving world when she won gold on the platform dive. Thousands of miles away in Indiana, 26 year-old Kimiko Soldati watched on television as Wilkinson stood atop the platform to accept her gold medal.
This time around Soldati won't be watching the Olympics on television, she will be there, in Athens, Greece for the 38th Summer Games. And if Soldati were to bring home the gold, Magnolia can lay claim to their very own world champion. Soldati, who lives in Magnolia with her husband, qualified for the Olympics after winning the 3m springboard at the U.S. trials in June in St. Louis, Mo. After learning she had qualified, Soldati looked back on what she had gone through to get to where she was. "It was absolutely unbelievable. I had a total wash of emotions. I would say the biggest emotion was grateful considering all the injuries, the surgeries and the problems that I've had," she said. "I had so much fun out there competing at the trials, because it's such a pressure-packed event. It was intense, but I embraced it. And I thought about my family and I thought about my husband, my mom and all kinds of things." Soldati's mother died of breast cancer when Soldati was a senior in high school. She said her mother's influence on her is key part of who she is today. "Obviously, something like that will affect you the rest of your life. I've become the woman am I now, for many reasons, but mainly because of her. One thing I learned from her was to not take anything for granted," she said. And Soldati is now competing for the same country that imprisoned her grandparents and father during World War II. "We've kind of come full circle. The very country that put my grandparents and my dad into an (internment) camp is now embracing me and lifting me up as an athlete to represent them. I think it's incredible, it's awesome," she said. "It's special to me to be able to represent my country. Soldati said her family has shown no ill-will to her representing her country on the biggest sports stage in the world. "I have never received any indication or signs of bitterness or unforgiveness on behalf of my family," she said. If Soldati were to win the gold on the springboard, she would be the first American to do so since Jennifer Chandler accomplished the feat in 1976. And at 30 years of age, Soldati would also be the oldest female ever to win the gold in the event. But she said she feels no extra pressure to end the medal drought. "I don't really have any control over who's going to win medals. All I can do is just go in there and focus on what I do and the technique of each dive and let the chips fall where they may. But I'm definitely training for a gold medal, and I think that's definitely possible," And at 30, is Soldati too old to stay competitive with competitors sometimes 10 years younger than her? "I think that's absolutely not true at all. Actually international divers are much older than the ones in the U.S. I'll be competing against girls who have been diving for 20 years," she said. "And with my age comes more emotional maturity and I think that's going to be beneficial." Soldati began diving in high school, but didn't seriously take up the sport until she was in college. She graduated from Indiana University with a master's degree in athletic administration. Soldati said the sole purpose of moving to Magnolia was to train with Kenny Armstrong and Wilkinson in The Woodlands in hopes of qualifying for the Olympics this year. "Looking at my situation, I decided I wanted to put myself in the best possible situation I could be in to potentially when a gold medal and I felt (going to) The Woodlands and working with Kenny and Laura was the place to be. So I just followed my heart and put it on the line and moved down here," she said. Soldati said they didn't have jobs or a home prior to the move. "Luckily we had friends of my family who live in Montgomery that let us stay with them," she said. Now the Soldati's are working and their home was finished in August of 2001. She said she is happy where she is at and plans to stay, if all goes well. "I'd love to stay. I really like it here. I enjoy the culture, and I love the weather. People think I'm crazy," she said. "We're really happy here. We have a beautiful home and we're part of a great church. But, we'll wait and see what happens after the games, but I wouldn't mind settling down here and starting my family here." Soldati is currently training at the University of Houston downtown and will leave for Athens in late July. Despite being away from her husband for much of the summer while she trains, Soldati said she has a true love for the sport. |
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