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Standing in a t-position on the end of a three-meter diving board, Kimiko Soldati is all taut muscles and concentration. After a moment of complete stillness, the 30-year-old Olympic hopeful diver expertly twists and contorts her body in the air, then glides into the water in a straight, sleek line.
When she resurfaces, her coach, Kenny Armstrong, shouts, "So good!" Then he adds, "But don't forget to keep your head neutral at the very beginning." Her face still a picture of focus and determination, Kimiko swims over to the poolside television monitor that plays videotaped footage of her latest dive. Then she climbs out of the pool, towels off, and stands in line behind her training teammates to do it all over again. Her husband of four years, Adam, watches poolside as he awaits the arrival of the younger divers he coaches.
This is how Kimiko spends eight hours a day, every day except Sunday and competition days, with her seven teammates—including Laura Wilkinson, the 2000 Olympic platform gold medalist— at the prestigious The Woodlands Athletic Center nestled in the northern suburbs of Houston, Texas. The fruit of all this labor: Kimiko was the 2002 U.S. National Champion in the three-meter springboard, the 2002 World Cup silver medalist in the ten-meter platform, the recipient of the Women's All-Around Award at the 2001 Indoor Nationals, and the first female to advance to the finals of all five diving events at the 2000 Outdoor Nationals. She's been named U.S. Diving Athlete of the Year and has been featured in Sports Illustrated multiple times, and she's one of a select few divers sponsored by Speedo. Not bad for someone who fell into diving by chance.
Kimiko's original passion was gymnastics, but a serious knee injury in the ninth grade ended that dream. Her father suggested she switch to diving, and she took to it, well, like a fish to water. But life hasn't always been podiums and medals for Kimiko. Three years after her life-changing injury, she lost her mom to breast cancer. In college, she developed an eating disorder. And since then, she's been plagued by serious shoulder injuries.
But it wasn't any of these tough situations that drove her to faith in Christ. Rather, it was the peace she saw in her fellow divers, believers who didn't wrestle with the extreme anxiety she felt trying to achieve perfection in a sport where mere millimeters separate medal winners from those who go home from competitions empty-handed. Though she was intrigued by their faith, the concept of surrender was too difficult for one who won many awards for her ability to be in control.
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