Pakhalina Leads Diving Preliminaries at Olympic Games
8/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Aug. 25, 2004
ATHENS, Greece - Former University of Houston Yulia Pakhalina led all divers Wednesday with 347.04 points during the 3-meter springboard preliminaries at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Current UH swimming and diving administrative assistant Vera Ilyina also moved into Thursday's semifinals with 311.97 points to stand in fourth place. The two divers return to action during the semifinals at 3 a.m. (CDT) (noon in Athens), Thursday at the Olympic Aquatic Centre with the finals slated to start at 1 p.m. (CDT) (9 p.m. in Athens). Each of the 18 semifinalists will perform five dives with the top 12 moving on to the finals Thursday evening. Pakhalina was a model of consistency throughout the preliminaries and improved her score with each of her five dives. After her first two dives, the Penza, Russia, native stood in fourth place overall. However, she moved up two more spots with her third dive - a reverse 2 1/2 somersault - and grabbed the lead for good on her subsequent dive, a forward 3 1/2 somersault. She capped her day with a score of 72.90 points - the second-highest score for any diver - on her final dive, a forward 2 1/2 somersault with a twist. "I started the competition very well today," Pakhalina said at a press conference following the preliminaries. "I am in very good shape, and I feel very well. I was very satisfied with my dives in this phase." While an Olympic Gold Medal is within her reach, she said she was not thinking about that heading into the semifinals. "I do not care for the gold," Pakhalina said. "For me, the most important part is to have good dives and after that we will see. The competition is tough." Ironically, the highest score of the day on a single dive was recorded by her Russian teammate. Ilyina nailed a forward 3 1/2 somersault on her second dive of the day and received a composite of 73.47 from the seven judges. Ilyina took the lead briefly on her third dive - an inward 2 1/2 somersault. However, she faltered on her fourth drive and dropped all the way to ninth place before rebounding with a score of 72.00 points on her final dive - a forward 2 1/2 somersault with a twist - for her final standing in the preliminaries. She stood only 7.74 points behind third place and said Thursday's competition will be fierce among the nation's best divers. "The athletes from China, Australia and China are at a very high level," Ilyina said. "It will be a tough battle for the three medals." Competitors now, Pakhalina and Ilyina teamed up earlier in the Olympic Games to win the Silver Medal in synchronized diving. The Cougar duo won the Gold Medal in that event during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Canada's Blythe Hartley, who ended Pakhalina's 36-event winning streak on the 1-meter springboard as a student-athlete at USC during the 2002 NCAA Championships, ranked second in the preliminaries with 321.33 points, while China's Jingjing Guo was third with 319.71 points. The Cougars are well represented at the Olympics. In addition to the two divers, UH diving head coach Jane Figueiredo is serving as an assistant coach on the Russian Team. This is the fourth Olympics in which Ilyina has competed and the fourth for Figueiredo as well (three as coach, one as participant). Pakhalina is competing in her second Olympic Games. A five-time NCAA individual national champion on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard, Pakhalina established herself as one of the most decorated female student-athletes in Cougar history. The Penza, Russia, native reeled off 36 consecutive wins in collegiate competition and was an 11-time Conference USA Diver of the Week honoree. The dean of the UH Swimming and Diving Coach staff, Figueiredo is a two-time NCAA Diving Coach of the Year and three-time recipient of the C-USA Coach of the Year honor and taken 16 divers to the NCAA Championships. In addition, her divers have swept all three C-USA postseason awards in each of the last three seasons. Ilyina, who begins her second season as an administrative assistant in 2004-05, was an award-winning diver at Texas from 1996-98.