After heartbreak in 2012, Kassidy Cook chases dream of diving in Rio

USA TODAY Sports counts down the 100 days to the Rio Olympics with daily stories about athletes, teams and coaches preparing for the Summer Games. The opening ceremony is Aug. 5.

In her first international competition in almost four years, Kassidy Cook dived so well that she earned a quota spot for the U.S. team in women’s 3-meter springboard diving at the Rio Olympics.

At the Olympic diving trials in June, she’ll have to dive well enough to ensure she’s the one representing the U.S. in Rio.

Cook nearly made her Olympic debut four years ago as a 17-year-old high school student. She and synchro partner Christina Loukas were second at trials, just .42 points behind Abby Johnston and Kelci Bryant, the team that qualified for London. Cook was fourth in individual 3-meter.

A couple months later she tore the labrum in her right shoulder just as the London Games were getting started.

“I actually remember watching the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Olympics from my hospital bed,” she said at a media summit of Olympic hopefuls in March.

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She had another surgery in May 2013 but has tried to put the injuries and disappointment behind her.

“I’d say I’m fresh off the recovery mentally and physically,” she said.

In her first international meet since 2012, Cook placed seventh at the FINA World Cup in Rio de Janeiro in February. “I was thirsty for more,” she said of the experience. “After being there and being in that environment it’s like my dreams can really come true. Time to put in the work.”

The performance in Rio also proved to Cook that the work she’s been putting in with coach Ken Armstrong at The Woodlands Diving Academy in Texas is paying off.

“One of my biggest fears was that I was never going to be as good as I was when I was a teenager,” she said. “But I’d actually say after all this training, I’ve been doing better than I was. I’m so thrilled because always having that thought in the back of your mind it was a little scary. But now I’ve surpassed that and I think that I’m a better diver than I was.”

Diving will be held outdoors in Rio. Cook says she learned to dive outdoors as a youngster in Texas and at Stanford, where she was on the diving team for two years before taking the year off to focus on making the Olympic team.

At the World Cup in Rio, the finals were held at night. During the Olympics, finals will begin in late afternoon but will end after sunset.

“It’s kind of like a new ballpark,” she said of diving at night. “The lighting is different. You spot in diving, you spot the water and the sky and that’s when you know when to come out of your dive. So obviously at night the color of the sky changes and the lighting and everything changes. I really enjoyed diving at night because it wasn’t as hot, and the light on the pool kind of makes it illuminated. It’s just more fun for me personally.”

The U.S. can qualify another spot in women's 3-meter for Rio in June. Olympic trials will be held in Indianapolis from June 18-26.

In Rio, China will be the heavy favorite in women’s springboard, having won the last seven Olympic gold medals.