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U S Diving
DIVING: Soldati, Kunkel Capture
Spots on U.S. Olympic Team
SOLDATI, KUNKEL CAPTURE
SPOTS ON U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM
Divers Finish One, Two on Women’s Springboard
ST.PETERS, Mo. – Kimiko Soldati’s (Magnolia, Texas) performance enroute to
wining the women’s 3-meter springboard at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials –
Diving was the perfect display of the fighting spirit she has shown throughout
her diving career. The 30-year-old veteran of the USA Diving Centralized
Training Center Team has fought to overcome four shoulder surgeries over five
years in order to dive at the Trials.
The springboard event was also a battle for Soldati. Coming into the finals,
Soldati led Kunkel by almost 20 points, with 2000 Olympian Michelle Davison
(Columbia, S.C.) seven points behind Kunkel in third. Davison, Kunkel and
Soldati were in a tight competition for the two spots on the U.S. Olympic Team
throughout the finals.
Soldati struggled on her second dive in the finals and dropped to second place
behind Rachelle Kunkel (West Valley City, Utah). But Soldati didn’t linger on
the mistakes and performed three more solid dives to win the contest by 10
points over Kunkel.
“Any athlete goes through obstacles,” Soldati said. “It’s the champions that
turn them around and make them opportunities.”
Soldati finished with 884.70 points to Kunkel’s 874.38 points. Both women earned
spots on the U.S. Olympic Team with their one, two finish.
Soldati, who listened to the song “Yea” by Usher between dives today, said she
was “juiced” for the competition.
“I felt like King Kong on the board. I felt really strong.”
Unfortunately some of her strength caused her to over-rotate and score 4’s and
4.5’s on her second dive, an inward 2 ½ somersaults.
“I missed it but I handled it really well,” Soldati said. “I wasn’t worried
about it. I knew I could come back.”
Kunkel knew she was close to Soldati and Davison, but she just wanted to perform
her dives consistently.
“I don’t watch the scoreboard a ton. I just want to see what kind of scores I
received and just be vaguely aware of where I’m at,” she said. “I heard a
cameraman say I was in front, so that kind of gave it away.”
Soldati was competing after a disappointing night on Thursday when she did not
make the Olympic Team is women’s platform synchro with teammate Laura Wilkinson.
But on her last dive of the night, with around 30 family members in the
audience, Soldati took everything in and was determined she would make the
Olympic team.
“I thought, ‘Oh cool! I’m going to hit this and I’m going to make an Olympic
team.”
Davison scored the highest in the finals, scoring 8’s and 9’s on her last two
dives, but it wasn’t enough to overcome 25-year-old Kunkel, who finished almost
four points ahead of her. Fourth place finisher Nancilea Underwood (Spring,
Texas) also performed well, earning 8.5’s and 9’s on her last dive, a forward 2
½ somersaults with 1 twist.
Soldati, who was a gymnast until she was 18-years-old and had to undergo total
knee reconstruction, said her Olympic berth is a little different than she
imagined it would be when she was younger.
“My dream since I was a little girl, like any athlete, was to go to the
Olympics, but I always thought it was going to be gymnastics,” she said. “I had
no idea God had another plan and got me into the sport of diving.”
Soldati and Kunkel will be nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team, subject to final
approval by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Women’s 3-meter Springboard (top two finishers nominated to U.S. Olympic Team)
1. Kimiko Soldati, Magnolia, Texas, 884.70; 2. Rachelle Kunkel, West Valley
City; 874.70; 3. Michelle Davison, Columbia, S.C., 870.60; 4. Nancilea
Underwood, Spring, Texas, 840.15; 5. Sara Hildebrand, St. Paul, Minn., 776.85;
6. Ashley Rubenstein, Columbia, S.C., 761.13; 7. Cassandra Cardinell,
Loudonville, N.Y., 755.16; 8. Cassidy Krug, Coraopolis, Pa., 743.82; 9. Lane
Bassham, Quitman, Ga., 741.30; 10. Allison Brennan, Huntington Beach, Calif.,
733.86; 11. Jaime Sanger, Plymouth, Minn., 728.76; 12. Carrie McCambridge,
Columbus, Ohio, 728.76; 13. Summer Mitchell, Troy, Mich., 712.71.
TICKETS: Tickets are available for Sunday’s session. Tickets can be purchased by
calling MetroTix at 314-534-1111, ordering online at www.metrotix.com, or by
visiting the Rec-Plex, 5200 Mexico Road, in St. Peters. Tickets for the five
finals sessions are $20, $25 and $30.
USA Diving is the national governing body for the sport of diving. Headquartered
in Indianapolis, USA Diving offers diversified programs geared toward the
broadest number of diving enthusiasts, from the novice to the world champion.
USA Diving conducts approximately 40 regional and national events annually,
sanctions hundreds of events managed by its 350 member clubs and is responsible
for training and selecting teams that represent the United States at
international events such as the Olympic Games, World Championships and Pan
American Games.
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