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USA DIVING NEWS |  |
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July 22, 2007 Greetings from Rio de Janeiro They’ve done this before. On the last international trip, a journey to Europe for Grand Prix meets in Spain and Italy in June, the team -- which included six divers on the Pan Am team -- was stranded for three days before arriving in Madrid just a few hours before the competition began. This time, the team left Washington D.C. as planned on Friday evening but had to divert back to the nation’s capital a few hours into the flight later after problems with radar in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They landed back in D.C. at about 4:30 a.m., waited at baggage claim and by 9 a.m. returned to the dorms at George Mason where they had stayed Thursday night for team processing. After a few hours of sleep, they went back to the airport around 3:45 p.m. and ultimately arrived in Rio on Sunday morning. By the time they’d arrive at the Pan American Village, there were only two hours remaining in the day’s open practice schedule, so it was decided they would eat later and head straight to the pool after getting their keys. Since they hadn’t been able to practice in a few days, getting in the water was key on the list. They’d hoped to be able to work out at George Mason following team processing, but because of a swim meet, they were unable to get into the pool. Instead, they took the mattresses off the beds in the dorms and created a makeshift dryland facility in the hallway. But despite the long trip to Rio, the team felt good about its first practice at the beautiful Parque Aquatico facility, where the competition will take place July 25-28. And, at least one diver found a positive in the delayed arrival. The final Harry Potter book came out at midnight on July 21, and the team was already in the air. But after having to return to DC, Haley Ishimatsu was able to buy the book. By 4:30 p.m. Sunday, she had read about 320 pages. Ariel Rittenhouse was waiting for her mom to bring a copy later in the week.
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