Thomas Warren, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – With less than two weeks until the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the USA Diving Team is gearing up with a four-day training session at the Montgomery County Recreation Center in Rockville.
The 11-member team will depart Sunday evening for the U.K. after its final practice.
The U.S. has not won a diving medal since the Sydney Games in 2000, but four-time Olympian Troy Dumais is optimistic that could change with this group.
“If mind and body are put together, this team is phenomenal,” Dumais says.
“I know how to dive, and I know how to compete, so we’re going to do some great stuff if that happens.”
Dumais joins four-time Gold Medalist Greg Louganis as the only male divers to make four U.S. Olympic diving teams.
He’ll compete in the 3-meter synchronized and 3-meter springboard events. In terms of his odds, Dumais is optimistic.
“If I do the dives I’m capable of doing, anything is possible,” Dumais says.
First-time Olympian Cassidy Krug is still trying to get used to the title.
“I’m going to the Olympics, and that is a surreal, amazing, fantastic feeling,” Krug says.
She’ll be competing in the 3-meter springboard.
This is the second Olympic Games for Christina Loukas. She plans to adhere to the advice she gave her teammates and take in the broader Olympic experience.
“I think this is going to be my last meet, so I really just want to enjoy it, dive well, have fun and hopefully come home with a medal,” Loukas says.
That’s exactly what Steve Foley, the team’s leader, wants them to do.
“Don’t be scared of going up to say hello to Kobe [Bryant] or Roger Federer or whatever it is, because actually they’re also in awe of them,” Foley says.
For everyone who will be watching in the U.S., Foley says the team’s success will not be determined by how many medals they win.
“I think as long as we’re in there and we battle hard, and we can come away with no excuses, the people back home will say, ‘You know what? I was really impressed with the way they competed,'” Foley says.
For Krug, success will come by making the country proud.
“The idea of representing my country at the Olympics – it gives me chills,” Krug says.
The diving team includes Katie Bell, David Boudia, Kelci Bryand, Chris Colwill, Troy Dumais, Kristian Ipsen, Abby Johnson, Cassidy Krug, Christina Loukas, Nick McCrory and Brittany Viola.
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