proCane Brittany Viola earns spot in Olympics

Brittany Viola, the former University of Miami star and daughter of 1988 Cy Young Award winning pitcher Frank Viola, won the women’s 10-meter platform Sunday at the U.S. Olympic trials and qualified for the London Games in her third attempt to make the Olympics.

Viola dominated the competition in Federal Way, Wash., winning by nearly 60 points ahead of second-place Katie Bell, who claimed the other qualifying spot for London. Viola scored 86.40 on her second-round dive, an armstand back dive from the platform with two somersaults and 1 1/2 twists, getting all 9s from the judges.

“A greater perspective that this is just another meet,” Viola said of her previous trials experiences. “Although there are a lot of lights and colors and Olympic rings everywhere, it comes down to the diver and the platform, and that’s something Katie and I can take into the Olympics.”

In the men’s competition, no matter what happened on the final dive Kristian Ipsen and Troy Dumais were already bound for London. Chris Colwill didn’t have that security.

With his Olympic hopes on the line and a sliver of a lead, Colwill’s final dive of the 3-meter springboard final was the highest-scoring dive of the entire competition.

Colwill rallied from third place to win the men’s 3-meter springboard, and Dumais held off Ipsen in the final round to finish second and reach his fourth Olympics in the event.

“Competing in the Olympics, that definitely was the biggest pressure, but I felt like I did a good job and enjoy myself and have fun and not worry so much about how the event was going to go and embrace the environment,” Colwill said.


(mimiaherald.com)