Émilie Heymans commits to 2012

Émilie Heymans of St-Lambert, the Olympic silver medallist on women’s 10-metre tower, announced today she is committed to competitive diving until the 2012 London Olympics.



"I’m pleased to announce I will continue diving until the 2012 Olympic Games in London," said the three-time Olympic medallist.

"I can’t deny that I’ve enjoyed returning to a normal life over the past few months after training so hard for the Beijing Games. However that time away from the pool along with a meeting with my coach Yihua Li made me realize I still have a passion for diving as well as the training and competition that’s involved. I’m not yet ready to retire from the sports world."

Focus on three-metre springboard

The 26-year-old also announced she will focus solely on the three-metre springboard event. She’d been competing on tower only since July 2007. She also didn’t compete on springboard in 2005.

Heymans has posted strong international results on three-metre. She won silver medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and 2003 Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo. She also has 10 national championship medals in the event and reached the finals on three-metre at the 2004 Olympics and at the 2001 and 2003 FINA World Championships.

"There is a big physical toll on the 10-metre tower and I don’t know if my body can withstand such impacts for another four years," she said. "Therefore, even though I’ve won 10-metrre medals (two synchro and one individual) in my three Olympic appearances, my coach and I made the decision compete only on three-metre."

Heymans knows there’s a heavy workload ahead. "It’s an enormous challenge,’’ said the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQUAM) student. "But Yihua Li and I are confident I can be a medal contender in London."

Heymans won’t worry about results early on. "I have no objectives with regards to results for the next two years," she said. "My main focus is technical work and increasing the difficulty of my dives. I want to start with a solid technical base and build a competitive diving list that puts me on par with the best in the world."

(Source: Plongeon Canada)