"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to enhance our coaching staff by adding such a high-quality and energetic diving coach," Kuehn said. "Ron Kontura brings to Cal more than a decade of experience in elite-level diving and I am confident that he is the right person to build our diving programs to the world-class level

But diving has a thrilling primitive side, too, a pirates-meets-the-Wright-Brothers aspect. To satisfy the instinctive desire, we shell out for fiberglass springboards and shiver through long lines at public pools - all simply to take a flying leap.

Sean McCarthy drove his car through the hills of central Indiana....His muffler fell off his car," Tonkovich said. "Here he was, struggling to get by, and the muffler falls off his car. And he didn't care. The important thing is his love of diving, his love of his sport. He gets by with that."

Texas lifestyle suits Olympic ambitions

... Brothers would have been a stretch," Dumais said. For most of his life, Justin has been the other brother. He's 1 1/2 years older than Troy and was always a ...

Synchronized diving, despite its twisting, turning physicality, is a matter of the mind: two athletes on a single, tenuous wavelength.

Rick Earley, former Olympian and diving coach for USC and the Mission Viejo swim teams, was introduced by Campbell as a new member of the design subcommittee.

Commonwealth diving silver medallist Leon Taylor says his Sydney Olympics disappointment has been “the driving force” which could steer him to success in Athens next week.    Taylor and his synchro partner Peter Waterfield came agonisingly close to becoming Britain’s first diving medallists in 40 years

One of the most successful sports for Canada at the Olympic Games in Athens should be diving.   Led by wunderkind Alexandre Despatie, the most talented diver Canada has ever produced, three medals, and possibly a fourth, could surface from the diving tank

Katura also seems to have got lucky with a wildcard. The diver, who competed in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002, failed to rack up the required number of qualifying points, but with several diving slots available for Athens, she has been selected to fill one of those spots.   It is understood her mother, Ellen Kate Horton, sister of former Sports Minister Randy Horton, has undertaken a significant amount of lobbying on her daughter's behalf, writing letters to both the International Olympic Committee and FINA, the governing body for diving. "I am absolutely thrilled," said Ellen Kate Horton.

At just 13 years and 9 months of age, Marjorie Gestring of the United States is the youngest individual gold medallist in Olympic history. .. The teenager leapt into the record books when she won the springboard diving event at the 1936 Games.