Graduation

Finally after 4 1/2 years I finished my double degree at Deakin University. So on the 7th of October 2005, I flew down to Melbourne and then jumped in the car with mum and dad for the drive to Geelong for the graduation ceremony. The ceremony started at 5pm, but I needed to be there at 3pm to get fitted in the gown, regalia and hat. I was a bit dissapointed as I only got the green regalia for education and not the blue regalia for the human movement, it would have been nice to have the two.

The ceremony wasn't too long, but it was funny as some of the graduates were guilty of various fashion crimes including jeans and runners, and stockings with sandles!

On Saturday the 8th of October my parents organised a suprise dinner for me! As I walked in to the local pizza place - Como Pizza, there sitting at the table was Ian, Robyn, Elke, Grace, Sian, mum and dad. It was a great dinner and heaps of fun to catch up with everyone.

It was so nice to go to Melbourne for the weekend, even though it was cold. It was really nice to finally see everyone again, as it had been months since I had seen mum, Sian and everyone else. It was also fantastic to get my hands on tow very important and expensive pieces of paper - my degrees!

Asian Diving Championships in Chenzhou, China - 05

On September 8th 2005, Matt, Nikki, Sharleen, Wendy, Mr Wang and myself headed off to Chenzhou, China to compete in the Asian Diving Championships. It was my third time to China but each time it blows my mind with the sheer amount of people and how different the country is to Australia. Once we landed in Guangzhou we had a 5 1/2 hour bus ride to Chenzhou, which was quite unpleasent, but we got to see some Chinese country side. The pool was brand new and quite nice, the springboards were very close together which made synchronised diving a little bit scary.

We stayed at the Chenzhou International Hotel, which was really nice, I was on the trundle bed in a room with Nikki and Sharleen. Everyday in the resturant there was interesting food on offer, this included foods such as: flavoured intestine of goose, bullfrog, ox tail soup, eel, chickens feet and head - yuk!

The opening ceremony was on the 11th of September, there were many performers and dancers, it was really quite incredible. There were musical items, singing, kung fu displays, a crazy high diving show and a group of young synchronised swimmers. Sharleen and I carried the flag for Australia, which was lots of fun. There were 10 countries competing in the Asian Championships which included: China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Korea, Kuwait, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines and Australia.

On Monday the 11th I had the 1 metre event in the morning. I dove quite well to score 250 points which is a personal best, and finished 6th. In the afternoon Sharleen and I had the womens 3 metre synchronised event. Sharleen and I dove extremely well to come 2nd and we scored 296 points which was a personal best and only 6 points behind the Chinese pair!

On the 12th of September I had the women's 3 metre event. I dove pretty good except 107C was over, in the end I scored 502 points. After our event Sharleen and I got our nails done which was lots of fun as neither of us had had acrylic nails before. Later that night was the end of competition banquet, it was heaps of fun. Each country had to perform a song or dance, we got up and did the Vegemite song with actions which was very embarrassing, and I think no-one in the room had any idea of what we were going on about.

On Wednesday the 14th we started our trip home. First we caught a train to Guangzhou which took almost 5 hours, then it was on a bus to the airport and finally we could check our bags in and grab a bite to eat, which ended up being very expensive noodles. We only had two flights with a quick stop off at Singapore. Our plane touched down at 6:30am, it was quite cold but the air was lovely and fresh. China was great fun, it was a shame we couldn't stay longer and see more things.

World University Games in Izmir, Turkey - 05

On Friday the 5th of August 2005, we headed off to Izmir, Turkey. The journey to Izmir was long and painful with stopovers in Singapore, Frankfurt and Munich, before finally arriving in Izmir at 4pm on the Saturday the 6th. The Athletes Village was an incredible site with 64 brand new blocks with each having 16 units which held up to 14 people. I was in block 18, unit 12 with all the diving girls!

The diving pool was in a beautiful location at Narlidere Yuzme Havuzu which was about 20 minutes from the village, and very close to the beach. It had 2 x 1m and 2 x 3m boards, all of which were brand new and great to dive on! The weather was fantastic, no wind in the mornings and in the afternoon a light breeze, it is the best outdoor pool I have ever dived at with Montreal a close second.

On the 11th of August was the opening ceremony which was heaps of fun but really, really long! I swapped heaps of pins, koalas and my hat - hence the new Polish hat. The stadium was packed with over 50,000 people, and there were the snipers on the roof!

The women's 1m event was on the 14th of August and was the first event of the program. Competiting for Australia was Amey, Alex and me. I was particularly nervous as I had hit both of my hands on the board the day before doing 303B. I couldn't grab my hands for entry as they were swollen, bruised and very sore. At 10am the competition started I was diver 22 out of 29. I actually dived quite well to finish 8th and therefore through to the semi finals. I was in the first semis and dived well except for 303B where I went through a bit short. In the end I finished 11th and Alex was 12th.

A few days later was the women's 3m event, luckily my hands were much better. Competiting for Australia was Amey, Carlie and me. Again I was at the back of the field, diver 30 out of 33. I did a good 405C and 205B, 305C was short for 4's (woops), 107C and 5335D weren't too bad. I was 12th going into semis and Amey was 14th! My semis were solid with a score of 210 points, this moved me up to 10th spot, but 7th as only semi scores get carried over to finals. There was a bit of a break to finals so we went down to the resturant on the beach and had a few drinks (mine weren't alcoholic of course) and relaxed. I dived much better in finals to finish 6th with a score of 501 points, to finish after Guo Jingjing, Wu Minxia, Paola and Jashia from Mexico and Misako from Japan.

Two days later was the final day of competitions and Amey and my 3m synchronised event. the event was a straight final which started at 1pm. Amey and I were team number 9 out of 11, and dived after the girls from Korea. Our first dive was the 101/401B combo dive, it was ok. Our next dive 403B was better, and 405C wasn't too bad either. I did a much better 305C than in the 3m event two days earlier, Amey's went over but we still got good scores. We knew we were in 4th place going into the final round. Our final dive was 205B, we knew we both needed to nail it to be a chance for a medal, and we did it!! We got 8's all round and moved ahead of the Ukranie girls to get the Bronze medal! Our Bronze medal was the first diving medal from Australian females.

The next day we went to Cesme, a beautiful beach of white sand and blue water. The closing ceremony was also on the 21st of August, which was heaps of fun. I had the privilage of carrying skippy the inflatable kangaroo around and had tons of photos taken with skip. Everyone was undressing and swapping their uniform. I swapped a few items, I got Japanese bathers and tee-shirt, USA polo shirt, Swiss shorts and top.

It was a great trip, heaps of fun and full of memorable experiences. Again there were many positives to come out of the trip, which helps me stay motivated to train hard and dive well.

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.