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E N Q U I R E R S P O R T S C O V E R A G E
Ruehl retires after 15 years of diving
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Body beat up from platform
By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
She finally will watch the videos. Becky Ruehl will pull out
her national championship tapes, the 1996 Olympic tape, and
watch them for the first time.
And have a good cry.
"There's no way I could have ever predicted what happened
through a sport," the 22-year-old diver said. "The
places I've been, the teammates I've had. It's just been incredible."
Ruehl, Greater Cincinnati's most decorated diver and perhaps
its most humble, didn't want to draw attention to her retirement.
So while blinking back tears on the 10-meter platform Sunday,
she rallied to a runner-up finish at U.S. Summer Nationals
in Mission Viejo, Calif.
Then she told a few friends and left the pool.
"I didn't know how the dives would turn out," she
said. "But I really felt like I was back to being myself
in the pool. Like, "This is how it's supposed to be.'
It was really, really fun. It was like the perfect ending."
She finished nearly 60 points behind the winner, Olympic-bound
Laura Wilkinson, but it was every bit a victory for Ruehl.
She had gone nearly three years between 10-meter competitions
because of a pair of shoulder injuries, so this successful
send-off made her rehabilitation feel worthwhile.
The University of Cincin nati grad from Lakeside Park, Ky.,
had debated for months leading up to the Olympic Trials in
June whether to retire afterward. She placed seventh in the
Trials, failing to qualify for the Games, but decided to dive
at nationals.
As she further mulled her decision, the pain no longer seemed
worth the gain.
"I realized how much my body just hurt," she said.
"I was enjoying it so much, just forging on, that I hadn't
realized how it really felt."
The platform is a danger magnet, propelling divers into the
water at about 35 mph from a height of more than 33 feet.
Ruehl has dove for 15 years.
"The last couple weeks practicing, I kind of feel like
hitting a car when I hit the water," she said.
And with four national championships and a fourth-place Olympic
finish — and with the next Olympic Trials four years away
” what was left to shoot for?
"I wanted to know I could still be at the top in diving
(last weekend)," she said. "I don't need it to go
any further. I've been national champion, been to the Olympics,
been NCAA champion, state champion. My list is full. ...
"I look at all the training, and it's not something I
could do. I could come into practice next week and hurt my
arm again. I don't know that it's worth it. I still love it,
I really love it, and I don't want that to go away."
Now it's time for everything else.
Ruehl is a graphic designer for Kolar Design, a design studio
downtown. She wants to try horseback riding, in-line skating,
tennis ” things she never could before, for fear of getting
hurt and jeopardizing her diving.
And she'll watch her highlight tapes and read the articles
that chronicled her career. She wanted to wait until it was
over before reflecting.
"It's so emotional,"she said. "I'm so thankful
for everything diving gave me. And I'm so excited about the
future, too."
More
Former UC Diver
Ruehl Retires
CINCINNATI, Ohio
-- (Aug. 15) Former UC diver Becky Ruehl retired from diving
on Monday after placing second on the platform at the U.S.
Summer Nationals in Mission Viejo, Calif.
During her tenure
as an All-American diver for UC, she captured the attention
and the hearts of the nation and the world when she placed
fourth on the platform in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. While
diving as a Bearcat, the Lakeside, Ky. native, earned the
first NCAA championship for a female athlete in UC history
when she won the platform event in 1996, earning National
Diver of the Year honors. In 1997, she placed second in the
3-meter at the NCAA Zone Three Championships. This past season
she earned her fifth All-America honor and finished her UC
career with a third place finish at the All-American Diving
Open with a season-best score of 417.5. Excelling in the classroom
as well as on the boards, she was the recipient of the Helen
Norman Smith award for excellence in academics and athletics
in 2000. She received her degree from Cincinnati in graphic
design and currently works for a graphic design firm in Cincinnati.
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