Sunday, August 01, 1999
N.KY. SPORTS INSIDER
Long's shot takes Olympic hit
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Lakeside Park's Lindsay Long is half of America's preeminent synchronized diving team. She has won five consecutive national championships, appeared in Time magazine and on ESPN, and become a celebrity in diving circles. Forgive her for feeling a bit sorry for herself.
“We had been (emotionally) up and down and so hopeful,” the 19-year-old Dixie Heights grad said. “I guess I knew things were too good to be true.”
After years of waiting paid off late last year with the word synchro diving would be added as an Olympic sport in 2000, Long and other hopefuls were deflated this spring when the International Olympic Committee capped the number of participants per country.
That means synchro divers won't get spots on each country's Olympic diving team. Each nation has to pick its synchro representatives from the four-person squad which qualifies at the Olympic Trials: Two 10-meter platform divers and two 3-meter springboard divers.
Long and partner Kristin Link are both long shots for an individual berth. The odds of both making the team and keeping the partnership intact are infinitesimal.
“Of course we were upset, because we've had so much success and we realized we could medal at the Olympics,” Long said. “I'm such a realist, so I wasn't totally devastated when we heard this. I have to be thankful at least that synchro has been added.”
Arrangements for separate synchro Trials and extra spots for synchro divers are expected for the 2004 Summer Games, but that could be too late. Though Long just finished her freshman year at Southern Methodist University, 2004 will be two years after her expected graduation, and she said she isn't certain she'll keep diving that long.
Even if she does, she may need a new partner. She says Link, an SMU senior-to-be, is even less likely to continue her career four years past college.
“It's not just us; diving countries around the world are upset by this,” SMU coach Jim Stillson said. “This is kind of like ice skating; you can't just take your two best individual divers and make them a pair. But that's what countries will have to do next year.”
Synchro, in which divers plunge side-by-side from the 10-meter platform, has been recognized since 1995. Link, a native of Springfield, Va., won two national titles with Paige Weiskittel, who began her diving career with the Cincinnati Stingrays.
When Weiskittel graduated from SMU and retired, Link recruited Long. They won their first major meet, the 1997 Indoor Nationals, and have swept every indoor and outdoor title since.
They have finished as high as second in international meets, including the FINA Grand Prix in May.
“We've gotten better and better in the last year since I came down here (to Dallas),” Long said.
They've also had hard luck. Long suffered from burnout symptoms early this year, and has struggled this summer with injuries to her triceps, a finger and her back. The back ailment — a strained ligament and compressed disk — kept her out of the pool most of the past three weeks.
They need to find their form quickly. Summer Nationals are Aug. 10-15 in Houston, at the home pool of chief rivals Patty Armstrong and Laura Wilkinson.
“I hope Lindsay and Kristin will still be prepared enough to win,” Stillson said. “They'll need to be at the top of their game.”
It's a huge meet. The winning team represents the U.S. at the World Cup in January in Sydney, at the same pool used next year in the Olympics. Only the top seven countries at the World Cup get to dive in the Olympics, so Long and Link could win their nation a berth.
“It would mean a lot to be able to do that,” Long said.
Long and Link hold out hope of individual Olympic platform berths. Long finished eighth on platform in April at Indoor Nationals (after qualifying third), and Link has previously placed as high as second.
“Of course I'd love to be on the Olympic team,” Long said. “Everything would have to fall into place. But I still have hope.”
KENTUCKY OPEN: Fort Thomas resident Stan Bickel will defend his title Tuesday through Thursday in the Kentucky Open, held at Greenbriar Country Club in Lexington. The 54-hole, stroke-play event is open to both pros and amateurs.
Bickel, 39, who also won in 1994, has won both of his Open titles in playoffs. He is a teaching pro at Meadowlinks Golf Academy in Cincinnati.
Four local golfers joined the field after advancing in a qualifier last month: Michael Ries of Lakeside Park, Brad Maynard of Fort Thomas, Ron Dozier of Alexandria, and former Reds pitcher Tom Browning of Edgewood.
OFFICIALS WANTED: The Northern Kentucky Football Officials Association, recruiting new members for the upcoming season, holds its next meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Dayton High School. For info, call Joe Frank at 578-8020.
• The Ninth Region Basketball Officials Association welcomes new members for the upcoming season. For info, call Tom Haas at 261-6000 or David Kanarek at 579-7065.
Neil Schmidt is The Enquirer's Northern Kentucky sports reporter. Call him at 578-5582 or send e-mail to nschmidt@enquirer.com.
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