39-year-old is aiming to return to Olympics
Laura Wilkinson won’t be the only middle-aged mother of three in attendance at the USA Diving National Championships in Columbus over the next two weeks.
However, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist will be the only one scaling the 10-meter platform to continue an improbable comeback.
When most her age are taking plunges into backyard pools and hot tubs, the 39-year-old Wilkinson is willing her body into one more run at Olympic glory. Not since Thornton Melon performed the Triple Lindy in “Back To School” has an older diver garnered such attention.
“Laura Wilkinson is a fantastic story,” Ohio State diving coach Justin Sochor said. “She’s an Olympic champion who decided to come out of retirement after starting a family.”
Wilkinson highlights a field of more than 650 divers competing at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the Ohio State campus. Junior competitions open today and run through Wednesday. The senior-open division, in which Wilkinson will participate, begins Aug. 8.
The event features plenty of local flavor as 27 members of the Ohio State Diving Club, three current Buckeyes and Bexley native Murphy Bromberg, of the USA Performance Squad, are taking part. But with many
Olympic-caliber athletes passing on the competition because of the recently completed world championships in Budapest, Hungary, Wilkinson is the most decorated performer. She is a three-time Olympian who announced her comeback after a nearly 10-year absence from world competition. Wilkinson broke the news of her return March 2, the same day she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
“It wasn’t an age thing for me,” Wilkinson said. “When you love something, you never really want to let it go.”
Wilkinson started mulling a comeback two years ago when she ran into her coach, Kenny Armstrong, at a pool in Texas. Her three kids, ages 3, 5, 6, watched mom take a few casual dives alongside Armstrong’s other students. Wilkinson admits there’s been plenty of soreness as she twists and contorts her body back into shape for a run at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. She loves that her kids are getting a chance to see her in action instead of relying on video.
“I took a year to ease back into things,” she said. “When I started, I wasn’t anywhere near where I was when I retired in 2008. But I am a lot further along than where I thought I would be. It’s nice having the kids come to practice and see me do what I was born to do. They are coming with me next week (to Columbus).”
The Texan is no stranger to defying the odds. Wilkinson became the first American woman in 36 years to win Olympic gold in platform diving at the 2000 Summer Games while competing just six months after suffering three broken bones in her right foot. The injury was so painful she had to wear a shoe to climb the 10-meter platform, tossing it back down before her dives.
Wilkinson briefly came out of retirement in 2010 and qualified for the Olympic trials but chose not to compete for a spot on the 2012 Olympic team.
As for the younger contestants in this week’s competition, they are vying for spots at the 2017 Junior PanAmerican Championships. The Ohio State Diving Club won the overall team title at the regional qualifier in April. In the open division, Christo Law, Clay White and Stephen Romanik represent the Buckeyes.
“The dives and the skills some of these athletes are going to be doing this week are very similar to the skills and dives you would see at an Olympic Games,” Sochor said. “It’s a very high level.”