Get to Know the Team USA Divers Headed To Rio

Photo Courtesy: Peter H.Bick

Editorial Coverage Sponsored By FINIS

The USA Diving 2016 Olympic Team Trials came to a close on June 26. Ten American divers have officially earned their spots and are headed to Rio. Who are the men and women competing for Team USA?

Sam Dorman was the 2015 NCAA Champion on 3m for the University of Miami where he majored in mechanical engineering. He has a vizsla dog named Hank, and is a specialty chef when it comes to eggs. He’s a six-time national champion. Four of his national titles are in 3m synchro, the event he’s headed to Rio for with his partner Michael Hixon.

Hixon is a Massachusetts native attending Indiana University. He’s was the 2014 NCAA champion on 1m and 3m. He hopes to a diving coach one day, following his mom’s example. She has been the diving coach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for 15 years. Hixon isn’t the only Hoosier diver headed to Rio, his teammates Jessica Parratto and Amy Cozad made the team for 10m synchro.

Success in the pool also runs in the family for Parratto, her mom was a five-time all-american diver at Wellesley College, and her dad coached Jenny Thompson, Olympic gold medalist swimmer. Parratto will be competing in 10m synchro as well as the individual 10m event.

Cozad graduated from Indiana University in 2013 as a math major, and after spent a season as an assistant diving coach at Florida State University. She likes to eat mac and cheese before competitions, and is an eight-time national champion, seven of her titles earned in synchronized diving.

David Boudia is headed to his third Olympics in Rio to defend his gold medal. In Rio he’ll be competing on 10m individually and with his training and synchro partner Steele Johnson. Boudia is a 20-time national champion, and his first book, Greater than Gold, will be released in early August.

Johnson is also headed to Rio in both 10m individual and synchro events. He has made his mark on the diving world as well as the internet. In addition being a 13-time junior national champion and 10-time senior national champion, he has over eleven thousand subscribers to his YouTube Channel. On his channel he posts daily vlogs documenting his life.

Stanford diver Kristian Ipsen is headed to his second Olympics, this time as an individual competitor on 3m. Ipsen has been a standout diver for years, at eight he became the youngest diver to win a junior national title, and in London earned a bronze medal in 3m synchro.

Katrina Young punched her ticket to Rio for individual 10m. She’s a talented diver and musician, check out one of her cover of Youth by Daughter! She graduated from Florida State in 2015 with a degree in commercial music, and has a lot more music on her Youtube channel.

Kassidy Cook, another Stanford diver, dominated individual 3m at trials this year after missing the 2012 Olympic team by 0.42 points. She has five siblings, and claims to knows all the spells from Harry Potter. Cook also maintains that the worst part of “Game of Thrones” is “having to wait a whole year for the next season.”

Duke diver and medical student Abby Johnston is also headed to her second Olympics. She competed in synchronized 3m in 2012, and is headed to Rio for individual 3m. The seven-time national champion was also Duke’s first NCAA champion in 2011. She celebrated heading to Rio with her best friend and a box of Dunkin Donuts.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use