IU senior finishes 4th at World Cup

If this year’s FINA Diving World Cup is a gauge to see how well divers are prepared for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, IU senior diver Christina Loukas is more than ready. \nLoukas, who is hoping to earn an Olympic qualifying spot for the United States’ diving team, finished fourth in the 3-meter springboard event, missing a bronze medal by less than half a point. \nAlthough she had previously competed well at national and international events, including a silver medal in the 2007 World University Games, this was Loukas’ first competition in a World Cup, which draws most Olympic-bound divers. This year’s World Cup, which was held Feb. 22-23, has added significance since the event was held in Beijing and serves as direct preparation for the Summer Games.\nThe crowds and competition did not faze Loukas who had a strong start in the preliminary rounds. She was one of two divers to score more than 60 points on each of her five dives to place third after the first day of diving.\nThe next day, she fell to ninth place after her first round of dives, but steadily improved throughout the day. She was in sixth after round two and fifth following her third dive. \nHer fourth round dive, a reverse 2 1/2, earned 81 points including a 9.5 and four 9.0s to place her in medal contention. She finished the day with 67.50 points on a front 2 1/2 twist that left her a half-point behind Australia’s bronze medalist Sharleen Stratton. China finished 1-2 in the event, with Wu Minxia winning with 391.35 points and Guo Jingjing taking second with 387.75.\n“I was very happy with how I dove,” Loukas said. “It definitely would have made it even better if I’d medaled, but I had a lot of fun.”\nLoukas, who redshirted this season from the IU swimming and diving team, now finds herself in the complicated process to be selected to the Olympic team. Up to eight women will be selected for the team, and event winners at the Olympic Diving Trials (June 18-22 in Indianapolis) will be automatically selected. If she doesn’t win at the trials, she will participate in a selection camp, where a committee will select the remaining positions. \nShe helped her chances to make the team through her performances at the World Cup because she earned 25 points for the team trials based on her top-six finish in Beijing.\nIU diving coach Jeff Huber, who also served as a U.S. World Cup coach, was impressed with Loukas’ performance and thinks it bodes well for her chances to make the Olympics.\n“Each time she dove, she got better,” he said. “And that speaks a lot for the dedication, the commitment she’s made not only to her diving but her mental preparation as well.\n“For us, obviously we want to have her on the Olympic team, he said. “There’s a lot of good divers out there, but it’s the ones that are going to step up and perform when it counts that are going to medal.”\nLoukas felt the World Cup meet last month prepared her for the rest of this year’s competition.\n“Being able to compete against those girls — and to dive well — it just gives me the confidence going into Olympics trials and the Olympics if I were to make it.”