2004 Olympics: Swimming and Diving

10:12 PM CDT on Sunday, August 22, 2004

By RACHEL COHEN / The Dallas Morning News

ATHENS, Greece – Laura Wilkinson was having flashbacks to 2000. She walked onto the 10-meter platform for her fourth dive with a medal in her grasp after other competitors faltered.

"I was kind of excited," Wilkinson said. "I thought it would be like Sydney."

But the dream ended there. There would be no perfect dive this time.

Wilkinson came out of her somersault a moment too soon Sunday and didn't enter the water completely vertical. With scores as low as 5.5, her medal hopes were dashed.

The defending champ from Spring, Texas, finished fifth, 11.94 points out of bronze.

"I'm a little bummed," Wilkinson said. "I wanted to have the meet of my life."

Australia's Chantelle Newbery, who won gold, had the most consistent night of the finalists. She and teammate Loudy Tourky became the first Australians to earn an individual diving medal since 1924. China's Lishi Lao earned silver.

American Sara Hildebrand finished 10th.

Wilkinson's strong third dive moved her from sixth to fourth, less than a point out of third.

"I was ready," Wilkinson said of her fourth attempt. "I wanted to hit that dive. It had been going well in practice."

Asked if the competitors ahead of her left a door open, she said, "They definitely did. Chantelle and Loudy walked through that door. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of those people."

Wilkinson is unsure whether she will retire.

"Sara and I are getting manicures tomorrow. That's as far ahead as I know," she said.

Newbery clinched gold with a crisp dive on her final attempt, earning scores of 8.5 and 9.0.

She had left diving for motherhood – her son was born two-and-a-half years ago. But when he was 4 months old, she decided to give it one more try.

Still, it was hard leaving him behind in Australia to come to the Olympics.

"This competition has been the biggest competition as far as wondering if it's all worth it," Newbery said, getting choked up as she spoke. "I did wake up this morning thinking it better be because it is really hard to leave him behind. I'm looking forward to going home."

First, she'll cheer on her husband, Robert, who competes in today's 3-meter springboard prelims. He'll look to continue Australia's ascension in diving.

"It's amazing," Tourky said. "We had two Australians on the medal dais. Before the last Olympics, this event was dominated by the Chinese. We work hard, and we have Chinese coaches back in Australia; they've helped us tremendously."

E-mail rcohen@dallasnews.com