Be Ware: Young diver on the rise as London 2012 beckons

Canadian diver Pamela Ware fared pretty well for someone who didn’t even expect to make the semifinals in her major international debut at the Olympic pool in London.

She almost made it to the podium.

The 18-year-old from Ottenburn Park, Que., pulled off a surprising fourth-place finish Friday against the best of the best in a World Cup that served as a dress rehearsal for the real thing this summer.

Her personal best of 341.39 points also gave her the Canadian Olympic qualifying standard. Veteran Emilie Heymans was a disappointing 10th with 307.35 points.

“To be honest, when I got here I wasn’t even expecting to make semifinals so just making semifinals I was extremely happy,” said Ware.

Nerves weren’t the factor that Ware anticipated they would be.

“It was my first World Cup so I expected to be extremely nervous, but then I started competing and I was only nervous on my third dive of the event, of the prelims, semifinals and finals, because my third dive is my hardest dive for me,” she said. “I was just really nervous and I didn’t want to miss it.”

Nailing that dive set the table for the rest of the competition.

“It loosened me up a lot. I had absolutely no stress after that. I was confident and felt really good in the pool.”

New contenders are always emerging in an Olympic year. Ware is looking like she may be one of them.

(THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Diving Canada, Mike Ridewood)

Comments

[Joanna Chen]

There's a whole amazing art/science to being in the zone. I got to see a lot of that in the Vancouver Olympics. Looking forward to London.