Diving back in
At 39, gold medalist Laura Wilkinson is back on the platform with an eye on 2020 Games
Laura Wilkinson, who won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Games at Sydney, has returned to training on the 10-meter platform with an eye toward qualifying for this year’s USA Diving national championships and, she hopes, a run at the 2020 Olympics.
Wilkinson, 39, has entered USA Diving’s zone championships June 21-25 at Moultrie, Ga. If she qualifies there, she would compete in the national championships July 29Aug. 12 at Columbus, Ohio.
With three children and plans with her husband, Eriek Hulseman, to adopt a fourth, she has chosen a familiar, welcoming place — the top of a three-story diving platform — for a little mommy alone time.
In fact, the tower that once represented work and fear for her, she said in a Facebook photo showing her in prayer atop the platform, has become “a place of redemption, passion, and hope.”
“After I became a mom, I felt, OK, my dreams
had to die and it’s all about them,” she said. “But I kept thinking that there has to be something more.
“A lot of moms fall into this, thinking that our time has passed, and I wanted to share my belief that you can still be a mom and still dream.”
Wilkinson trains with her longtime coach, Kenny Armstrong, and a group from The Woodlands Dive Team, who had not been born when she shocked the world by rebounding from a crushed foot to win the platform gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
“It’s a cool group of motivated young kids,” she said. “I’m just Laura to them.”
Wilkinson, who has not competed internationally since 2008, will have to qualify among the top five at the zone competition to advance to nationals. The U.S. team for the world championships already has been named, so the soonest she can advance to international competition, should all go well, would be next year.
“As long as my body holds up, we’re going to make a run at another Olympic Games,” she said. “We have a legitimate shot.”
Armstrong, who tutored Wilkinson throughout her career and most recently coached Kassidy Cook of The Woodlands at the 2016 Olympics, relishes the chance to work once more with his longtime student.
“I think it’s fantastic,” he said. “She has a great shot at making nationals. I think the youngsters had better start working harder. Just getting back into it and putting the gloves back on and throwing punches will be fun.”
Wilkinson, a three-time Olympian and the first women’s platform diver to win Goodwill Games and Olympic gold medals, a FINA world championship and a FINA World Cup title, recently was selected for induction into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. She worked for NBC at the 2016 Olympics.
She considered getting back into the sport after 2012 but opted to focus on family matters. She gave birth to daughter Arella, 6, and son Zadok, 3, and she and her husband adopted a daughter, Zoe, 5½, from China.
When Armstrong invited her to join his younger divers each week for some recreational time, she said it “felt like home” to be back in the water and elected earlier this year to resume training.
Wilkinson was hampered during the latter part of her career with an injury to her right triceps that made it difficult to withstand safely the impact of hitting the water from 32 feet in the air. Other than the normal aches and pains of training, though, she said she is in good shape as the meet in Georgia approaches.
With the demise several years ago of the Woodlands Athletic Center, she has to drive to Texas A&M’s natato-
rium one day a week for tower practice. That, and her family duties, cuts into training time, but she said the limited schedule is more realistic and beneficial at this point.
“Finding the balance is a challenge, but I was able to get back into it quickly and make corrections that I wasn’t able to make before,” she said. “I can see things differently now.”
Among her concerns away from the pool is continuing to work with her husband on completing the adoption of a child from Ethiopia. The Hulsemans began the adoption process in 2013 and are waiting for the Ethiopian government to grant final approval.
“Baby steps are happening, things are starting to move, and we hope to have her,” she said.
Husband Eriek, a former swimming coach, is working at home to help her balance work and career objectives and encouraged her return to the pool.
As for her children, Wilkinson said, “Arella says she wants to dive, but she’s a new swimmer. We’ll get the swimming thing down first.”
Wilkinson began her comeback effort using the hashtag #DreamChaser on social media and said she and her family are enjoying the step-by-step progression that they hope will culminate in Tokyo in 2020.
“Take your kids with you,” she said. “Don’t tell them how to live. Show them, and they will learn from your journey.”