The Sideline Olympian

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

ATHENS, Greece – Synchronized diver Cassandra Cardinell’s routine generally calls for hairpin twists and fist-tight tucks, but these last few weeks she’s been practicing clapping and waving a little flag in the air. The 22-year-old New Yorker’s final competition here was on August 16th, and since then she’s been spending her time in the stands, rooting for her 10 other U.S. diving teammates.


The target of her cheers on Monday was Justin Wilcock and Troy Dumais, who were competing in the men’s 3-meter springboard preliminaries. Dumais placed fifth and went on to finish sixth in yesterday’s final. Wilcock, who’s been suffering back problems, did not have such luck, placing 32nd out of 32.


“It’s a little tough,” Cardinell said afterwards. “I cheered for them both just as much. I love them both to death.”


Watching teammates falter is far from the only hardship she’s had to endure here. Cardinell and her diving partner, Sara Hildebrand, were poised to pick up a medal in the synchronized 10-meter platform diving finals, but a botched first dive with a total score of 31.0 – the worst of the night – spoiled their chance. The pair rallied with four subsequent dives that were remarkably solid, but with only five dives in total, one setback carries enormous consequences. They placed seventh out of eight, while China’s surreally nimble Lao Lishi and Li Ting took home the gold.


The problem with the American duo’s first dive was that Cardinell bounced off the platform with undue force, causing the dive to slip out of synch. Synchronized diving is an incredibly nuanced art form, with divers judged on everything from the size of the splash they make (the smaller the merrier) to the state of their muscle tone. The difference between a stellar and an average dive eludes the average spectator, and it’s common for smashing-looking efforts to garner scores as low as 5.5. And yet Cardinell and Hildebrand’s crooked first dive looked devastating even to the untrained eye.


“I wasn’t nervous, I was just too excited,” Cardinell said. She pushed herself too high, too hard, and by the time she realized it, there was no hope of righting the dive.


While the trip-up cost the team a medal that they were counting on, the Loudonville, N.Y., native isn’t dropping her sunny disposition. “I’m only human,” she said in a tone that was free of even a speck of gloom.


Perhaps she saves her regret for her private moments. Cardinell comes across as likeable, younger than her 22 years, with her summer-camp-counselor looks and frequent use of the words “cool” and “awesome.” When her parents were in town they went to bed at 4, but she was under the covers by midnight. Even though she’s been free to do whatever she pleases for the past week, she has yet to hit Athens’s Dennis Kozlowski-worthy nightclubs. “Are they cool?” she asked.


Is she as normal as she seems? “I hope so!” she said. “It’s so cool here! I love meeting all the other people.”


Cardinell’s first sport was gymnastics, which she began before she was old enough for kindergarten. She eventually dropped it, saying she was too young to get serious about it. It wasn’t until her first year at Indiana University that diving became a serious pursuit.


“What’s interesting about Cassie is she’s only been up there for five years,” said Hildebrand, the older and more experienced of the pair.


“Four!” Cardinell corrected her.


“Either way,” Hildebrand continued, “Four or five years – that’s not a very long time to prepare to do big dives like that.”


Hildebrand and Cardinell teamed up two years ago at the suggestion of their coach at Indiana, Jeff Huber. They say the connection was there from the very beginning. “Our styles are the same,” said Hildebrand. “We came from the same coach.”


Now Hildebrand, 24, is preparing to move to Florida to settle down with her Marine husband and start her career as a teacher. She says she’s not sure if she’ll keep diving competitively, but even if she does, she won’t be able to continue diving with Cardinell, who will still be based in Indiana. Cardinell is about to start a two-year masters program in media management and is set on competing at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. With Hildebrand leaving Indiana, Cardinell doesn’t know whom to ask to be her next partner. She says she’ll probably experiment with a few people before settling on one, and doesn’t need to worry about it for another couple of years.


She used to get worked up over whether her partner would get angry if she erred in a dive, but she says she’s moved past that. “It’s a team effort,” she said. And what about their recent experience? “I did feel bad about it somewhat but I knew in Sara’s mind I wasn’t letting her down.”


The athletes don’t purport to be Siamese twins. Sara is older, married, and introverted, whereas Cardinell strikes you as the girl who’d be the life of the party – even if she’d want to go home at a reasonable hour.


Cardinell says life in the Olympic Village isn’t as wild as rumors would have one believe. She reads a lot – she’s already finished a few athletes’ autobiographies and a couple of novels – and she goes to bed at an hour when most of Greece has yet to sit down to the dinner table.


She hasn’t got to know other athletes very well, but she gets a kick out of running into the beach volleyball players, who are tall and thin and always wearing Spandex shorts. “It’s like, hello!” she said. She hasn’t talked much to the Chinese whippersnappers who won the event. “They’re amazing,” she said. “They don’t speak English, we say, ‘hi’ and smile but you can’t talk. They’re so small, I’m like, ‘Do you eat?’ “


She’s started working with a sports psychologist to ease her anxiety. She now keeps a journal of her diving-related feelings. “I learned to not fear things but to embrace them and say, ‘I’m here, I’m ready to go.’ “


Still, she has yet to get rid of her tremendous fear of heights and she can’t bear to look down when she dives. “I can’t. I’d be shaking.”


Back in Indiana, her friends from school like to drive down to a limestone quarry where they jump from a cliff into the water. She can’t bring herself to take the plunge and her friends call her a chicken for it. “I’m like, ‘I’m going to the Olympics, people, so don’t give me a hard time.’ “


The New York Sun

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