Continuing our series on the fabulous women representing the USA in the upcoming Olympics, please meet diver Laura Wilkinson.
When Laura Wilkinson, 30, launches off the three-story diving tower, it takes just two seconds for her to reach the water. In that blink of an eye, she will do three and a half somersaults in a pike position before opening up and hitting the water at the speed of 35 mph. The dive has never been executed by a woman at the Olympics, but Wilkinson plans on completing it perfectly in Beijing. It's a small way to thumb her nose at her critics. A 2000 gold medalist, she was struggling in 2003 (a reporter even asked, "Exactly how does it feel to be a has-been?") and then finished fifth at the 2004 games. Now she's doing some of the most difficult dives in her field. "Something inside me said, 'I can do better,'" she says. "I felt like I hadn't reached my potential yet."
- The above article was taken from Glamour, July 2008
photos: CNN, Glamour, USAToday
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please let us know your thoughts. xo