Indianapolis - Trials

I got to Indy, and trials, yesterday, after an easy, uneventful trip. I feel like my last few airplane flights have been all-day, airport-to-airport-to-airport affairs, and in the future I probably shouldn't underestimate the value of a nice, easy direct flight. This is sort of an ongoing battle between my coach, Rick, and I - He's all for staying in the nicest hotels, getting the most convenient travel arrangements, renting cars, the works... I'm usually fine with cheap hotels, bumming rides, and layovers (I think that's genetic). But hey... this is Olympic Trials. It's a good time to err on the side of comfort.

Hard to believe that four days - eight practices - stand between me and the meet. I'm competing individual three meter on Thursday afternoon. Semifinals are in the evening, and finals are on Saturday.

I'm also trying to make the Olympic team in Synchronized 3 meter, with my partner Nancilea, but they won't have any synchro events this week. All the synchro teams will be decided at a "Selection Camp" in two weeks in Knoxville. This is a weird trials, that way. Any other year, this meet would be IT. I'd fly in, dive my two events, and either place in the top two (individual) or top team (synchro) and be an Olympian, or else get third or lower and have to wait four more years for another shot. I'd know by the end of the week whether I was going to Beijing or not.

Now, only the winner of each event in Indianapolis will be named to the team. The top six in each event, as well as the top-level synchro teams, are invited to the Selection camp, where the rest of the team will be chosen. So the Trials will be over by Sunday, but two-thirds of the Olympic team won't actually be set for another three weeks.

Anyway, things are going well so far. Today's practices were exciting. I felt juiced, and just a bit nervous at first, but as I dove, I started to feel more like my normal self. I like my hotel, and it's fun to have so many teammates also at Trials (The Woodlands, which is the team that my coach and I have been training with since shortly after I graduated from Stanford, has 8 people competing at this meet! That's a lot!) I've come to a lot of big meets on my own, and while I know all of the other divers on the deck, it's nice to have great friends here that really share the excitement, stress, joy, and anticipation of Trials.

USA Diving Olympic Trials will be live on NBC from 3:30-4:30 on Saturday, June 21 and 3-6 on Sunday, June 22. My event - Women's 3m - will probably be on the later side of the time slot on Sunday!