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August 12, 2004 7:57 pm

Diver aching for Olympic opportunity

By Elliott Denman

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece - Kimiko Soldati's right shoulder is aching.

Again.

But the 30-year-old, Longmont-born-and-raised diver vows it won't affect her Olympic performance.

``It's just a matter of pain management, and this is something I know can handle,'' she said Thursday.

``This is the Olympics, this is where champions rise up, and all of us here are champions.

``We all have heart, we all have passion, we all believe.''

She believes she'll be just fine by the time competition in the 3-meter springboard event begins on Aug. 25. Semifinals and finals are the next day.

``When you're a 30-year-old who's had four surgeries, it's a given that you're going to have some trouble,'' she said.

Thanks to cortisone - a legal drug that alleviates some of her pain - plus years of training to maintain a positive attitude, she has every confidence in her ability to compete with the world's best.

Her problems started back in 1996, when she badly muffed a practice dive. ``I tore the bicep right off the bone,'' she said, shuddering at the thought.

Somehow, she managed to compete at the 1996 Olympic Trials but missed the 2000 Trials after rotator cuff surgery.

She was back on top of her game at the 2004 U.S. Trials in St. Peter's, Mo., winning decisively over Rachel Kunkel, who will also be competing in the 3-meter event in Athens.

Soldati's route to Athens has been anything but ordinary.

Her father, Gary Hirai, is of Japanese-American heritage and was born in World War II-era internment camp.

Before taking up diving, she was a gymnast - until suffering a knee injury that required total reconstruction.

She's a graduate of Indiana University and now trains at The Woodlands, Texas.

Soldati will be trying to end an American gold-medal drought in the 3-meter springboard dating back to Jennifer Chandler's victory at Montreal in 1976. Kelly McCormick's bronze in 1988 represents the last American medal. Chinese divers have won the last four Olympic golds and are again favored.

While U.S. diving team head coach Ken Armstrong calls this 11-athlete unit ``the best American diving team in 20 years,'' many of the world's top diving analysts aren't so sure.

Not that their opinions matter to Soldati.

``When I get into my `zone,' that's when I perform at my best and when I know I can be on that top rung of the (victory) platform,'' she said. ``Diving is a very mental sport. Now the training is done. Now it's muscle memory. When I'm up on that board, and right before I go, I'm not overloading my mind with things I need to remember to do when I dive.

``I have to shut it off, let it go, trust my training.

``I'll take a deep breath, let it go and let it happen.''

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