{"554981":{"#nid":"554981","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Atlanta Gives U.S. Divers Big Send-Off to Rio","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMore than 4,000 fans turned out July 20-23 to cheer on the 2016 U.S. diving team bound for the Rio Olympics and to revive the Olympic spirit that birthed the McAuley Aquatic Center 20 years ago.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAtlanta has been great,\u201d said Mike Edwards, senior director for campus recreation at Georgia Tech and manager of the swimming and diving venue during the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. \u201cThey have just been coming out in droves for us.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUSA Diving\u2019s 10-member Olympic team held three open practice sessions and one autograph session as a part of the weeklong send-off. The autograph sessions July 20 and 23 had lines wrapped around the building. Those sessions brought back \u201996 Olympians, and the July 20 event included Greg Louganis, the only diver to sweep gold medals in platform and springboard events in back-to-back Olympics (1984, 1988).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDavid Pichler, who finished sixth in platform in 1996 and now lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been back to Atlanta numerous times because of his work with the real estate firm Cushman \u0026amp; Wakefield. He saw the facility evolve from the open-air pavilion to the closed-in building.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s nice to pop back in and relive the memories,\u201d Pichler said. \u201cI remember the build up to that first dive in \u201996: hearing the home crowd cheering for several minutes when I stepped out onto the platform. When I think about it, I still get chills.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Becky Ruehl Amann, who finished fourth in the 10-meter platform in 1996 and now lives in Portland, Oregon, this trip was her first since she competed in the Atlanta Games.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s almost as magical as it was when I was here for the Olympic Games,\u201d she said. \u201cThe pool was one of the things that made the biggest impression on me as an athlete.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe athletes believe their performance was enhanced by the strong showing of fan support during the public practices and the hospitality of Georgia Tech and the sponsors.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESteve Foley, high performance director for the 2016 Olympic diving team, said this send-off was very important in bringing the athletes together as a team and helping them stay motivated during the final push in their training.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing. I thought I was back at the \u201996 Olympics,\u201d said Foley, who did television commentating for Australian TV for the Atlanta Games. \u201cThe stands were just about full. You could see the divers were really buzzing from the crowd cheering them on. It was nice to get applause.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFoley said training can be isolating, but the impact of the crowd helped fuel the divers\u2019 desire to give their best effort each time off the board or platform.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI came into this practice pretty tired,\u201d said Indianapolis\u2019 Amy Cozad, a competitor in the 10-meter platform synchronized diving event. \u201cAll that went away when the people started pouring into the stands and started cheering for us.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs USA Diving heads to Brazil for the Summer Games, which run Aug. 5-21, USA Swimming moves into McAuley for a week of training. The one practice session open to the public will be July 30 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is free, but attendance is limited to the first 1,500 in line. The doors open at 9 a.m.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI think it\u2019s more than just the facility,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s an outstanding facility because it\u2019s an Olympic facility, but I think it\u2019s a lot more than that. It\u2019s the partnerships within Atlanta. Our partners on this were the Atlanta Sports Council and Coca-Cola, and between the three of us, we\u2019ve been able to capitalize on all of our strengths and really do a great job for United States Diving.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMore than 4,000 fans turned out July 20-23 to cheer on the 2016 U.S. diving team bound for the Rio Olympics and to revive the Olympic spirit that birthed the McAuley Aquatic Center 20 years ago.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Big crowds turned out July 20-23 for the USA Diving send-off hosted at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the Georgia Tech campus."}],"uid":"28797","created_gmt":"2016-07-25 09:38:03","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:22:08","author":"Lance Wallace","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-07-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-07-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"554941":{"id":"554941","type":"image","title":"Big crowds attend USA Diving send-off","body":null,"created":"1469452126","gmt_created":"2016-07-25 13:08:46","changed":"1475895353","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:53","alt":"Big crowds attend USA Diving send-off","file":{"fid":"218204","name":"usadivingcrowds.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/usadivingcrowds.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/usadivingcrowds.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1815742,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/usadivingcrowds.jpg?itok=czjzc6gD"}},"554951":{"id":"554951","type":"image","title":"Synchronized 10 meter platform practice","body":null,"created":"1469452513","gmt_created":"2016-07-25 13:15:13","changed":"1475895353","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:53","alt":"Synchronized 10 meter platform practice","file":{"fid":"218205","name":"johnsonboudia.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/johnsonboudia.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/johnsonboudia.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1195286,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/johnsonboudia.jpg?itok=g2w4o4Ev"}},"554961":{"id":"554961","type":"image","title":"Synchronized 3 meter springboard practice","body":null,"created":"1469453068","gmt_created":"2016-07-25 13:24:28","changed":"1475895353","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:53","alt":"Synchronized 3 meter springboard practice","file":{"fid":"218206","name":"dormanhixon.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dormanhixon.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dormanhixon.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1633792,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dormanhixon.jpg?itok=7Lpz1ASl"}},"554971":{"id":"554971","type":"image","title":"Jessica Parratto practices for 10 meter platform","body":null,"created":"1469453723","gmt_created":"2016-07-25 13:35:23","changed":"1475895353","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:53","alt":"Jessica Parratto practices for 10 meter platform","file":{"fid":"218207","name":"jessicaparratto.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/jessicaparratto.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/jessicaparratto.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1035348,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/jessicaparratto.jpg?itok=MaElG6P2"}}},"media_ids":["554941","554951","554961","554971"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.crc.gatech.edu\/aquatics\/content\/226\/usa-swimming-olympic-training-camp-faqs","title":"Olympic Training Camp FAQ"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.crc.gatech.edu\/aquatics\/content\/225\/usa-diving-olympic-send-off-faq","title":"FAQs on USA Diving\u0027s send-off to Rio Olympics"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"165011","name":"2016 Rio Olympics"},{"id":"719","name":"CRC"},{"id":"168672","name":"McAuley Aquatic Center"},{"id":"170491","name":"USA Diving"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELance Wallace\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:lance.wallace@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elance.wallace@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lance.wallace@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}