may 2008 blog
So from Mexico, we travelled straight to Canada, I have been to Canada a few times now (8) and I am very comfortable being there.
The olympic pool in Montreal is one of my favourite pools to dive in and i was very excited to compete there again. It was definately not as cold as it was in Decemeber and it wasnt snowing while we were there but there was still snow on the ground from Decemeber! Where they had moved the snow and piled it up in one place.
I was very keen to get in and train and improve my dives from Mexico, I did a few more of each dive then we normally would just to get some numbers in before the competition. Our event was on the last day and we had waited a long time to compete, we had trained a good list before and felt we were ready for a good result.
We competed on Sunday 4th May, we finished 7th but scored a British record and a PB at 316.62. Even though we scored a PB, we came out feeling we could have dived a lot better, but a PB was a positive thing to come away with. The competition was the highest standard competition we have been in. There was some very high scores coming up and with Monique still having her injury, I felt will did ok.
This month was also the World Series in Sheffield, all week myself and Monique had been training great lists and we felt we were definately in for a great result. We competed on Sunday 25th May, it was great having the crowd behind us and diving in a home pool.
We scored 308.46 and came 2nd behind the Canadian pair! Even though I was very happy to come away with 2nd, it was very disappointing we did not compete like we had been training and I can't really put down why? But we will just keep doing what we have been doing in training and go into Rostock, Germany in June with the same attitude we went in with in Sheffield!
april 2008 blog
Because of the busy year ahead of us. Monique and myself decided it would be a good plan if we took some time out to have a weeks holiday. Monique was born in South Africa and wanted to go back home for a week. So we decided we would go to South Africa, where there is a lot of sun and do a bit of light training while we were there! Great! It was so good to have that weeks holiday, especially in South Africa, we got to train outside and go to the beach all week, come back with a tan and all ready for training again.
Then we came back... to reality ... and trained again for the World Series in Mexico! We had a week to get ready and travel to Mexico, we travelled to Tijuana on the 21st April. Mexico wasnt the best competition for us, Monique pulled her groin during the week in Mexico and i was having a few technical issues on some of my dives. Also, we had to repeat our last dive due to a child falling off the balcony and the judges not seeing our dive! The 2nd of our twist was very good though, scoring 84 points! Even though we didnt dive definately to our best, we still scored 300.80, which again is over 300. I would have liked to see a bit more of Mexico, maybe next time when we are in a different part.
From Mexico, we travelled straight to Canada and were confident we would put in a better performance. The travelling from Mexico to Canada was very tiring! The whole journey door to door took us about 20 hours! So we had a day off before we trained in Montreal.
march 2008 blog
After recovering from the World Cup in February, it was back to training to get ready for the European Championships in Eindhoven. It was hard going from the World Cup in China, as firstly we had to get over jetlag and colds which were picked up, into another competition but myself and Monique were very excited to go and have another good competition and win a gold!
We left for Holland on the 15th March to train in the new dutch pool. It was a really nice pool, just a little bit cold. Because the pool was cold, Monique picked up a tricep injury and my back became very sore but we managed it well with our physiotherapistm Gareth. Training was going really well all week considering and we competed on 22nd March.
For this competition, there was a prelim and final format. We dived well in the prelim coming 2nd behind the German pair and scoring 307.56. We dived in the final just as good as we did in the prelim, if not better, but felt we did not get the marks we deserved and the other teams raised their game. We finished 4th, scoring 305.76. We were very gutted after competing because our goal and focus was the gold.
The best thing about the European Championships was watching Tom Daley win his 10m individual event, it was a great atmosphere and well deserved.
Even though we did not get the result we came for, we came away from the European Championships feeling we had a lot we could improve on and decided to concentrate on those changes.
february 2008 blog
This month was the 16th FINA World Cup and the last chance of Olympic qualifying. The World Cup was held in Beijing, China. I competed in the 10m synchro with my partner Monique McCarroll.
On the 3rd February I left to go to the pre-camp in Leeds, Leeds is the best centre in the country to practice synchro, as all of the platforms are 3m wide.
Therefore, we can do every dive together. In Leeds, the team were able to keep practising the lists they were about to perform in China, but we also chilled, went to the cinema and had amazing meals everyday at the Novotel! We were in Leeds for a week before heading to Xian for the holding camp.
We flew to Xian on a long 11 hour flight. Myself and Monique had prepared a sleeping plan so we knew when we got to China, the jetlag should not be too bad.
I slept for 5 hours but at least it was some! When we arrived in Xian, we found ourselves in a luxery 5 star hotel! It was amazing, the food, the rooms, the gym were perfect! We stayed in Xian for just over a week, training at the pool twice a day. The pool itself was great.
The gym consisted on 11 dry boards, 6 trampolines and a platform over a foam pit. Pretty impressive. Myself and Monique trained great through Xian and we also did 2 late sessions at 9pm to prepare for our final at the World Cup, as it was at that time.
In Xian, we had a team day off and went to see the Terracotta Soliders, which were fascinating but it was very cold. We also tried to go to the markets but it was shut, so that was unsuccessful!
On the 16th February, we finally left for Beijing! We were so excited on the night we arrived to see the Olympic pool that we had dinner and left to find it. We were able to spot it from our hotel as it was so bright.
When we had walked arond the 'water cube', which the pool was in, we finally found the entrance. Unsure of whether we were able to enter, we did anyway. As we saw the pool, it was overwelming, it was so big! The boards itself looked great but the seating held 17,000!
After taking pictures, we walked down the steps onto poolside and took a sneaky look off the 10m board before we were called down. It was great to see the pool before we trained in it the next day.
Myself and Monique loved the pool and dry land and were training great leading up to the competition, we felt ready for the competition later on in the week.
The week got off to a great start with our 3m synchro boys qualifying in 4th, and our 10m platform girls qualifying in 9th and 13th.
On the 3rd day, a long time waiting, was our day! We couldnt have prepared and planned anymore for this day so we were confident. We knew the final was the important one so the prelim was just a 'get through' competition.
We were so nervous on our first dive, and to me that was a litlle unexpected of how nervous i would be and that showed. But we dived great and got through the prelim in 8th place and scored 304.
It was comfortable for the prelim knowing we can defineatly dive better. After the prelim, there was quite a long gap, myself and Monique had planned for this so we took our time going back to the hotel, having lunch and watching prison break!
Going to the final was a lot better then going into the prelim, it was more exciting, we knew what we had to do and were confident we were going to do it. We got off to a great start with our first dive scoring 52.20 putting us 2nd!
We also did a great 4th dive scoring 78 points putting us 4th before going into the last dive. We put our front 3 1/2 somersaults piked last as we both know we can score great points individually and on synchro.
The dive was enough to finish 7th! Therefore, qualifying a place in the olympics! We scored 313, one point off our pb so we were very pleased :-) great result.
The rest of the week was just as enjoyable and nerve racking with Blake and Thomas coming 3rd in the 10m synchro! Thomas and Pete qualifying a spot for themselves, Thomas coming 7th and Pete 8th!
The toughest competition was the girls 3m synchro, where Tandi and Hayley scored enough to also qualify a spot. They dived the best they have ever dived and was one of the most pleasing results of the meet.
On the last day, was the dive off where Louise and Jodie had to compete in a battle for the final spots in the 3m and the same for Blake and Ben. Both Ben and Jodie dived great, earning a well deserved place for the olympics!
I had a great time in Beijing and i couldnt have asked for a nicer and more supportive team! Bring on Beijing 2008!
january 2008 blog
At the very start of the month, the British Nationals took place in Manchester. This was the competition to qualify for the World Cup in Beijing.
Me and my partner Monique having already qualified thought we would go into nationals with no pressure and aim to get over 300 points.
However, we found ourselves even more nervous than the previous qualifying competitions that we had already done! But being nervous must have been a good thing because we dived yet another PB, scoring 314.1 and won.
This score is an equal British record with Tonia Couch and Stacie Powell. I also dived individually and scored 314.5, which, for me, was my British PB so i was happy enough to take 4th place.
Also, this month myself and Monique did the Madrid Grand Prix as a warm up competition for the World Cup. We went there to get a medal and came back with a silver medal! We AGAIN scored a PB which was 314.7!
Our required dives wernt quite up to scratch which shows how much more we have left in us. We out dived the Canadian pair who have previously been big medal winners.
After Madrid, me and Monique started training again. Monique came down to Plymouth and I went up to Southampton.
This started our preperation for the World Cup which is very important in our training. We have written down goals, training plan and schedule, rest days and eating plans in case the food in Beijing isn't great!
So we are now ready to start training in China were we go for a 2 week training camp before the competition starts!
