USA Diving

RUIZ ENDS DIVING CAREER IN ATHENS

August 14, 2004

ATHENS, Greece – Mark Ruiz of Orlando, Fla., had dreams of ending his career in Athens with an Olympic medal around his neck but that dream was dashed on Saturday night.

Ruiz and Kyle Prandi of Strongsville, Ohio, finished eighth in the men’s synchronized platform with a total of 325.44 points on five dives.

“After missing the second dive we were playing catch up the whole time and I kept looking at the scoreboard trying to do the math,” Ruiz said. “I didn’t give up because I knew we had to just keep plugging along and see what happened. Unfortunately we were just too far out of it after that dive.”

The Chinese team of Liang Tian and Jinghui Yang took the gold with a total of 383.88. Peter Waterfield and Leon Taylor of Great Britain captured the silver with a total score of 371.52 and Mathew Helm and Robert Newbery of Australia won the bronze with a 366.84.

For Ruiz this was his second Olympics and earlier this year he and Prandi took first at both the World Cup Trials and the Speedo American Cup.

“We have trained hard together for this event since Olympic Trials and it just didn’t work out for us tonight,” Ruiz said. “I have no regrets though because I trained as hard as I possibly could, harder than ever before this year. I don’t know what else we could have done.”

Prandi will return to the pool on Aug. 27 in the men’s 10-meter platform preliminaries and Ruiz will be cheering him on.

“I am going to become the biggest cheerleader on the team,” Ruiz said. “I believe in each and everyone of my teammates and I think they are going to come through with a couple of medals.”

Diving competition will get underway again on Aug. 16 with Cassandra Cardinell (Loudonville, N.Y.) and Sara Hildebrand (St. Paul, Minn.) in the women’s synchronized platform and brothers Justin and Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) in men’s synchronized 3-meter.

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USA Diving is the national governing body for the sport of diving. Headquartered in Indianapolis, USA Diving offers diversified programs geared toward the broadest number of diving enthusiasts, from the novice to the world champion. USA Diving conducts approximately 40 regional and national events annually, sanctions hundreds of events managed by its 350 member clubs and is responsible for training and selecting teams that represent the United States at international events such as the Olympic Games, World Championships and Pan American Games.

- USAD –

For additional information, please contact Ann Bleiker, diving press officer, at ann.bleiker@usoc.org or 011-30-636-677-2093. Information can also be found at www.usadiving.org, www.usolympicteam.com or www.nbcolympics.com.

USA Diving

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RUIZ ENDS DIVING CAREER IN ATHENS August 14, 2004 ATHENS, Greece – Mark Ruiz of Orlando, Fla., had dreams of ending his career in Athens with an Olympic medal around his neck but that dream was dashed on Saturday night. Ruiz and Kyle Prandi of Strongsville, Ohio, finished eighth in the men’s synchronized platform with a total of 325.44 points on five dives. “After missing the second dive we were playing catch up the whole time and I kept looking at the scoreboard trying to do the math,” Ruiz said. “I didn’t give up because I knew we had to just keep plugging along and see what happened. Unfortunately we were just too far out of it after that dive.” The Chinese team of Liang Tian and Jinghui Yang took the gold with a total of 383.88. Peter Waterfield and Leon Taylor of Great Britain captured the silver with a total score of 371.52 and Mathew Helm and Robert Newbery of Australia won the bronze with a 366.84. For Ruiz this was his second Olympics and earlier this year he and Prandi took first at both the World Cup Trials and the Speedo American Cup. “We have trained hard together for this event since Olympic Trials and it just didn’t work out for us tonight,” Ruiz said. “I have no regrets though because I trained as hard as I possibly could, harder than ever before this year. I don’t know what else we could have done.” Prandi will return to the pool on Aug. 27 in the men’s 10-meter platform preliminaries and Ruiz will be cheering him on. “I am going to become the biggest cheerleader on the team,” Ruiz said. “I believe in each and everyone of my teammates and I think they are going to come through with a couple of medals.” Diving competition will get underway again on Aug. 16 with Cassandra Cardinell (Loudonville, N.Y.) and Sara Hildebrand (St. Paul, Minn.) in the women’s synchronized platform and brothers Justin and Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) in men’s synchronized 3-meter. --30-- USA Diving is the national governing body for the sport of diving. Headquartered in Indianapolis, USA Diving offers diversified programs geared toward the broadest number of diving enthusiasts, from the novice to the world champion. USA Diving conducts approximately 40 regional and national events annually, sanctions hundreds of events managed by its 350 member clubs and is responsible for training and selecting teams that represent the United States at international events such as the Olympic Games, World Championships and Pan American Games. - USAD – For additional information, please contact Ann Bleiker, diving press officer, at ann.bleiker@usoc.org or 011-30-636-677-2093. Information can also be found at www.usadiving.org, www.usolympicteam.com or www.nbcolympics.com. .
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