INDIANAPOLIS — Laura Wilkinson crawled out of the water, bowed toward the pool, then looked at the scoreboard.
Nothing but 10s.
With the first perfect dive of her career, Wilkinson locked up a third — and final — trip to the Olympics, holding off teenage phenom Haley Ishimatsu on the 10-meter platform at the U.S. Diving Trials on Sunday.
“It’s kind of bittersweet knowing this will be the last one,” said the 30-year-old Texan, who won gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and plans to retire after Beijing.
David Boudia, 19, beat Thomas Finchum, 18, his close friend and longtime training partner, in a battle of 10s on the men’s platform.
The American team is eager to make up for its medal shutout in Athens four years ago, and Boudia might have the best chance to take down the powerful Chinese.
“We’ve seen them get beat before,” Boudia said. “We know they can be beaten, which is good to know.”
Wilkinson, after scoring all 10s for the first time, is hoping to take another medal into retirement.
“I feel like they always count me out,” she said. “That’s fine with me. You have more pressure when you’re the favorite. The Chinese will have to deal with the pressure.”
Wilkinson totaled 1,214.50 points over three rounds. Ishimatsu, who likely will be selected for the second 10-meter spot at a camp that begins next week in Knoxville, Tenn., was second with 1,140.40.
Boudia finished with 1,642.20, while Finchum had to settle for runner-up with 1,583.50 despite receiving 10s on three of his six dives.
Triathlon.
Two Colorado Springs residents earned the final berths on the U.S. Olympic triathlon team.
Hunter Kemper claimed the men’s team spot by beating his main rival, Andy Potts, in the Hy-Vee Triathlon in West Des Moines, Iowa. Kemper competed for the U.S. in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.
Sarah Haskins secured the final spot on the three-member U.S. women’s team with a sixth-place finish.
On a tragic note, Jim Goodman, a 46-year-old Iowa man, died after being pulled from the water during the swimming leg of the triathlon.
Mountain biking.
Coloradans Todd Wells and Georgia Gould were the first two racers to clinch spots on the U.S. Olympic mountain biking team, after no Americans secured an automatic bid at the world championships in Trentino, Italy.
Wells, from Durango, finished 15th in the men’s race, while Gould, from Fort Collins, crashed and still finished ninth in the women’s championship. Each made the Olympic team based on the best cumulative placing in international races this year.
Footnote.
China should win one more medal than the United States at the Beijing Olympics — 88 to 87 — and top the overall table for the first time, according to a survey released Monday by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The Associated Press
