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Colwill Savors His Amazing Journey

Tribune photo by MIKE YOUNG

Brandon native Chris Colwill will be competing in two events in Beijing.

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By BILL WARD

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 6, 2008

Updated:

BRANDON As Chris Colwill walked along the pool deck at the Brandon Sports and Aquatic Center, he couldn't help but think back to all the time he had spent there as a kid.

Here he stood, an Olympic diver, a 23-year-old on top of the world headed to the Beijing Games. Before leaving, Colwill had come home to Brandon for one last visit with family and friends and to perform a diving exhibition at the club that gave him his start and a foundation in the sport.

But as he looked into the young faces that seemed to surround him everywhere he went this blistering July afternoon - even up on the platform of the 3-meter springboard - Colwill kept thinking back to his childhood here.

There were those early days when he would sneak out of gymnastics class to join the divers, the countless hours bouncing on trampolines and springboards and, much to his parents' early concerns, diving off the 32-foot-high platform.

But the best times, Colwill says, were those spent simply hanging out with friends who, like him, were attending summer sports camps at the club. Those are the memories that are with him as he prepares to compete in the Olympics.

"I can remember the days like these, in the summertime, I would actually spend 12 hours straight here," Colwill said. "It's kind of funny to think about when I was actually the kid who was looking up to the Olympic-level divers here. It was just amazing how I thought of them being God-like and now it's the other way around.

"It's kind of a hard thing to process. I think of myself as a normal human being just out there having fun by competing. And now, I'm going to the Olympic Games."

Looking For An Outlet

Colwill, a Tampa Prep and University of Georgia graduate, has earned two berths in this month's Beijing Games. On Aug. 13, he and dive partner Jevon Tarantino of Boca Raton will compete in the 3-meter synchronized springboard event. Five days later, Colwill will take part in the preliminary round of individual 3-meter springboard.

Joining him in Beijing will be his parents, Chuck and Debbie Colwill. Since Chris qualified for his first junior national diving championships as an 8-year-old and his first world championships at age 14, they have followed their only child across the country and around the globe to see him compete. But it was at the Brandon Sports and Aquatic Club where, as a rambunctious 5-year-old, Colwill began a journey that would one day lead to the biggest of all summer games.

Of course, back then, Colwill's parents were just hoping to find an outlet for their son's seemingly boundless energy. He was so vivacious as a child, Colwill had a habit of getting himself into some perilous situations.

There was the time as a toddler when Colwill fell out of the garage rafters of their home while it was still under construction and, later, the day he jumped into the pool still not knowing how to swim. And Colwill was seemingly always finding a way to unbuckle his car seat and jump around the back of the family sedan.

Between Colwill's birthday - Sept. 11 - and his ability to put himself in the hospital emergency room as a child, he earned the nickname of "Mr. 9-1-1."

"You only had to be distracted for a half a second with that kid and he was gone," Chuck Colwill says with a laugh. "The day he had the accident in the garage rafters, Debbie was literally chasing him. He was so darn fast, he scooted up the stairs into the rafters and she didn't know whether to chase him up or follow him down. Luckily, she stayed down and broke his fall."

Little wonder that Colwill's parents signed him up for just about every activity offered at the BSAC. He started out in gymnastics, but once they found out he was ducking out of those classes to dive with the older kids, they put him up with Coach Joe Greenwell's Jetstream dive squad.

From the first time Greenwell saw Colwill compete - as a 6-year-old - he says he knew he had someone special on his hands. But it wasn't because Colwill was particularly gifted. In fact, the first hint Greenwell had of Colwill's potential came right after he smacked the water on a bad dive.

Greenwell says Colwill got out of the water undaunted, determined to get the dive right no matter how long it took or how much it hurt.

"When he did that, I remember having this moment where I said 'OK, I'm going to have to help him be a very good diver, otherwise he'll drive himself crazy or me crazy or both,' " said Greenwell. "He wasn't going to be satisfied being a recreational diver or even an average diver. For Chris, it was about being the best."

A Winning Attitude

From national championships as a youth to state titles in high school to NCAA crowns in college, Colwill has been one of the best. And he has done it despite being born with only 40 percent of his hearing. Even there, Colwill was determined to overcome what most would call a disadvantage and turn it into an edge. He's done that by being able to tune out extraneous noise while on the board preparing to dive.

After an impressive run through June's Olympic diving trials, where he finished second in 3-meter individual behind veteran Olympian Troy Dumais, and a first-place showing in both events at last month's Olympic Selection Camp, Colwill has made his first Summer Games and proven he is among the best in the world.

Yes, the Chinese are expected to dominate in their home pool. But Colwill believes he and his U.S. teammates can reach the medals podium. Colwill not only possesses great physical strength and leaping ability, he can put together one of the toughest dive lists in the world - including a reverse 21/2 somersaults with 21/2 twists, which only one other diver has pulled off in competition.

And in the synchronized event, Colwill and Tarantino are ranked No. 4 in the world. As a team, their dive list is the most difficult in the world.

But more than anything else, it might be the attitude Colwill brings to Beijing that gives him a shot at earning a medal. It's an outlook that he learned at an early age in Brandon: work hard, be confident and have fun.

"I really believe that anything is possible," Colwill said. "I believe in myself. I have the potential to medal. I'm just going to have fun and see where that takes me."

Reporter Bill Ward can be reached at (813) 259-7456 or wward@tampatrib.com

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