Sports
 

Gold medal winners from UH go to Athens

Appearances will mark Pakhalina's second, head coach Figueiredo's fourth Olympics

Cougar Sports Services

While watching the 2004 Olympic Games beginning in a few weeks, Cougar fans should be interested in knowing of three individuals from the UH diving program representing the Russian team.

Senior Yulia Pakhalina, assistant diving coach Vera Ilyina and diving head coach Jane Figueiredo will not be new to the Olympics, and they will go to Athens with strong chances to earn medals. 

As synchronized diving partners and only working together for 10 months, Pakhalina and Ilyina both earned gold medals in the 3-meter springboard in Sydney and will have strong chances of defending their crown in Athens.

Pakhalina, one of the world's finest divers, will be returning for her second Olympics. She placed fifth in the 3-meter springboard in the Sydney games in 2000. 

In her career, Pakhalina has been extremely successful both in and out of college. She has two medals from the World Championships including a gold medal in 1998, four medals from the European Championships including a gold medal in 1998 and 2000 and a silver medal in the 2001 FINA (a Swiss-based international diving organization) World Championships. 

In collegiate competition, she is a five-time NCAA 3-meter springboard champion and UH record-holder for most individual championships won and the 2001 1-meter champion. 

Ilyina, a Texas graduate, will be competing in her fourth Olympic Games after placing sixth in the 3-meter springboard in 1992 and 2000 and seventh in 1996. While at Texas, Ilyina was NCAA 1- and 3-meter champion in 1997 and 1998. She was the 1997 Division 1 female diver of the year and 1998 diver of the year.

One of the world's best diving coaches, Figueiredo will be going to her fourth Olympic Games. She served as coach to both Pakhalina and Ilyina in Sydney. She worked as the diving coach for Great Britain in 1996 and represented Portugal in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Figueiredo, a UH graduate, made her mark as one of the top divers in Cougar history. While she won the 1984 Southwest Conference title in the 3-meter springboard, she was a five-time All-American and finished second on the 1-meter springboard at the 1985 NCAA Championships. She competed for her native country of Zimbabwe for five years including the 1982 and 1986 World Championships.

Pakhalina and Ilyina's synchronized springboard event is scheduled for Aug. 14 at 1 p.m. (9 p.m. in Athens) and should last about an hour. The 3-meter individual event is scheduled to start Aug. 25 beginning with the preliminaries at 5:30 a.m. The semifinals will be held the following day at 3 a.m. and the finals will begin at 1 p.m.
 

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