Wednesday, July 27, 2005

11th FINA World Championships - Montreal, Canada - 05

It was only at the start of June I found out that I would be competing at the World Championships in Montreal, which were only 6 weeks away!!! I was told I was going to be in the 3 metre event and the 3 metre synchronised event with Sharleen Stratton. I was so excited as I wasn't really expecting to be put on the team, as soon as I got home from training I called my dad and he was so excited that he bought plane tickets and tickets for all my events that night. The lead up to the World Champs was pretty crazy, Sharleen and I had never done synchro before, so it was a bit of a challenge to get our synchro perfect for the competition.
On the 11th of July 2005, the Australian Team headed off to Montreal via Sydney, LA and Chicago. I was incredibly scared, nervous and excited at the two weeks that lay out before me. I didn't compete until the 22nd, so I had lots of time to get more nervous but also watch everyone else compete. I was really glad that I did have such a long time to get use to everything, including the boards, the surroundings, the conditions and intensity that goes with an event such as the World Championships.
We were staying at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Sherbrooke. Loudy and I shared a room, and we had a fantastic view of Montreal! The food wasn't too bad either.

The pool was fantastic, the best outdoor pool I have ever dived at. The pool had the usual 3m, 5m, 7.5m and 10m platforms. There were 4 x 1m and 3 x 3m springboards, which were all brand new and fantastic. Of course I picked the most popular 3m board which meant I never got as much time to do my dives as Sharleen did as she was on the middle board which wasn't as crowded.

Across the road from the hotel was the Juste Pour Rire or the Just For Laughs festival. So several times over the two weeks we went down to see what was going on, and there was always something weird or wacky to see!

On the 15th of July I was woken at 4:15am by a SMS which had my university results for my final two subjects. The good news was that I got two Distinctions which means I have now graduated! We also had a day off training so we headed into the city and went shopping!! I bought several things including a green GAP handbag, a green I love Nerds tee-shirt, Roots track pants, Roots shorts, Roots socks, a Roots tee-shirt and a few touristy items for family and friends.
On the 22nd of July the big day arrived, it was the day of the women’s 3m. I was diver number 30 out of 37 and it was going to be a very long day. I was really happy with my prelim's with my scores averaging 7 / 7.5 which resulted in a score of 294 points which left me in 7th place!! Then it was straight back on the boards for semis. My semis weren't too bad; I went through with 209 points, which kept me in 7th place going into the finals. I got to chill out and relax for a while before the finals 4pm. The weather was crap the whole day, it varied between hot and sunny, overcast, cold and raining - it was very unpredictable a bit like Melbourne's weather. In the finals I did a good 405C, 305C, 5335D. On 205C I decided to jump it up really high and keep it in close, well I kept it in a but too close so when I kicked out I hit the board with my toes, which resulted in me washing the dive over and getting only 3's and 4's. 107C was quite challenging because as I stepped on the board it started to rain! I didn't really know what to do, but I thought I would go before it really started to pour, in the end my front wasn't too bad. In the end I came 12th, disappointing as I was really close to doing five good dives in the finals of the World Championships, but happy that I made finals in the first place!
On the 24th of July Sharleen and I had 3m synchronised. We had prelim's in the morning where were team number nine out of sixteen team, diving after the German's. We dived really well in our first competition together to come 5th with a score of 283 points. In the afternoon we had finals, this time we were after the Brits. We didn't dive as well as we did in the prelims, we scored 280 points but dropped back to 8th.

All in all it was the most full on two weeks of my life. In many ways I'm glad it's all over, but I did have a fantastic time. There were many positives to come out of my competitions in Montreal and I was really glad to have been given the opportunity to be apart of the Australian Team for the World Championships.