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.

Diving Grand Prix in Rome, Italy - 05

On the 30th of May 2005, Nikki, Gene, Kathryn, Carlie, Brendan (team manager), Xiangning (coach) and I headed off to Rome. We flew to Tokyo via Business class, for some strange unknown reason, but we had a blast. Our flight to Rome was the next day, so we spent a night at the JAL hotel, which was really nice, but no-where near down town Tokyo. I found kimonos in the hotel rooms, so we all got dressed up and then accidently locked out of our room, but doesn't Gene look great in the kimono!!

Finally we arrived in Rome at 5pm on the 31st of June and headed straight to the Hotel Summit, which was on the top a hill as you could imagine. The pool was beautiful, there is a 1m, 3m, 5m, 7.5m and 10m platforms. There was 4 x 1m and 4 x 3m springboards, of which some were good and some were bad.

My first event was 3 metre which was on the 4th of June. There were 24 girls in my event and I was the 14th to go. In my diary I wrote 'well it's about time I pulled together five very solid dives.' Going into semi finals I was in 2nd place, behind Nora from Hungary but in front of Anna Lingberg, Tania Cagnotto and the two Chinese girls with a score of 304 points. It was really scary but a great experience to be last to dive off in a semi final. I didn't drop a dive in the semis but I didn't hit the dives as I did in the morning but stilled scored 273 points. In the end I finished 7th, which I was happy with.

That afternoon we all headed to the Vatican City which was simply amazing. We also got some yummy Italian Gelato and I acquired a pair of fake Channel sunglasses off a dodgy man out the front of the Vatican City, Nikki got a pair of funky sunnies too, check out the photo!

On the 5th of June I had my 1 metre event in the morning and then the 3 metre synchronised event with Carlie in the afternoon. The 1m event had 23 divers, I was 13th and Kat was 14th. I dived quite well doing a good 403B, 105B, 203B and with 303B and 5134D being strong but a little over. I finished 8th with a score of 235 points, which is good for me considering I'm not a great 1 metre diver. Later on that day was 3m synchro, for Carlie and I it was the fourth time we had done synchronised. There were 8 teams in the event and we were team number 6 team after the Chinese duo. We dived really well with a score of over 290 points, and came 3rd behind the Chinese, and Mexicans. It was a very close event with a point seperating 2nd to 4th!

Unfortunately we couldn't attend the medal ceremony as we had to get on the bus to the airport. Once at the airport we grabbed a bite to eat, we all got a nice Italian pizza, cause you can't be in Italy for a week and not eat pizza. After pizza was the medal ceremony, Brendan our team manager presented Carlie and me with our medals at the airport! The medals were very nice, and exciting as it was my first international medal. My goodness the trip to Rome was full on, half of the time was flying and the other half competiting, but all in all a great trip, with lots of positive memories!

Photos above: Carlie and me after just been presented our medals at the airport in Rome. Carlie and Kat eating pizza at the airport! Carlie, Nikki and me at the airport in Tokyo.

Diving Grand Prix in Madrid, Spain - 05

Straight after the training camp we headed off to Madrid for the Fina Grand Prix Meet. We flew on a small jet which only had 50 seats. We stayed at the Fiesta Hotel which was great as it was only a 2 minute walk to the pool. Unfortunately my camera didn't work most of the time we were there. I didn't really have a good meet in Madrid; on 1 metre I came 17th. 3m I finished 14th - it was disappointing that I didn't make finals as I was only a few points off 12th. However on 3 metre synchronised Carlie and I came 4th which was a top effort considering that we had only practised one time before the day of the competition. We just missed out on the bronze to the Spanish girls who has a huge supporter group. I think I was pretty nervous going into the competition and it reflected in the way I dived, but I did have a good time!

Dodgy photo of the flags at the pool

The very unexciting view from my hotel room

Two cars parked in the middle of the street!

The Australian team at McDonalds in Frankfurt on the way home, the Mc Donalds made me feel really sick on the plane. The competition at Madrid was a great experience for me, it showed me the level of competition and what I needed to do to be at that level.

Training Camp in Berlin, Germany - 05

On the 7th of March 2005, I arrived in Berlin with the Australian team manager to meet up with the other team members who competed in Grand Prix meet in Rostock. We had a training camp in Berlin instead of competing at the Grand Prix in Russia, which was fine by me as it was my first visit to Germany. We stayed in Sport Hotel in Berlin which was pretty nice.

That's Nikki and Kat out the front and the other photo is Kat, Nikki, Carlie and me with the Berlin bear in the hotel foyer.

It was freezing and it was also the first time I had seen it snow, so that was exciting. The city Berlin was nice but the people seemed quite grumpy. The pool we trained, the Berliner Bader-Betriebe, it was 5 years old but looked brand new. The dry land centre was very impressive with a fast track trampoline, a sprung floor strip, a normal floor strip, three trampolines, a dry board, a dry platform, two pit boards and a hydraulic platform into a pit!!! That's one of my coaches Xiangning on the tramp.

The pool was also awesome; it had 2 x 10 metre platforms, 7.5 metre, 2 x 5 metre platforms, a hydraulic platform which can go from 1 metre to 7 metres, 1 metre platform. There were also 3 x 3 metre boards, a hydraulic board which could also go from 1 metre to 7 metres, 5 x 1 metre boards and a 1/2 metre board. There was also an underwater viewing area for coaches.

Whilst in Berlin, we were also able to get out and see some sites. They included the Fernsehturm TV tower, several very old and beautiful churches, parts of the Berlin Wall and outdoor museums about the Berlin Wall and Hitler which were incredibly sad and moving.

We also went to Checkpoint Charlie which was really interesting, very different now from when my parents were there in the 1970's when the wall was up. We saw more churches and visited the Brandenburg Tor which was fantastic but on a very very cold day!

So after a great week of training in Berlin it was off to the airport on the way to sunny Madrid.