Mexican Diving Star, Paola Espinosa, Eyes Gold in London Olympics [2]
For Mexico’s Paola Espinosa [3], diving in the London Olympics will come with a lot of pressure as well as pride. Espinosa, world champion at the Rome Worlds in 2009, is Mexico's great hope to win a gold medal from the London Olympic Games, where she will try to seize first place from China's Chen Roulin.
"These games are to be enjoyed but with an eye towards something big, an individual medal," Espinosa said in an interview with Xinhua.
Espinosa is used to the pressures that come with the international competition, as she won the bronze medal in 10m synchronized platform with her teammate Tatiana Ortiz, in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
"Rome left me with a desire to dream. It gave me the opportunity to beat the Chinese divers and realize they aren't invincible. If I did it once, why not do it twice," she said.
Espinosa, born in 1987 in the northern city of Mexicali, on the border with the U.S., is confident her talent and sound coaching will carry her past the world’s best divers.
"With the talent I have and the experience she has, I think we make a good team. If I didn't have a coach who knew me and gave me confidence, I wouldn't have achieved any of this. She arrived at the most difficult moment in my career, when I wanted to retire before Athens 2004," Espinosa said.
Espinosa first burst onto the scene at the Barcelona Worlds in 2003, where the 16-year-old took the bronze in the 3m springboard synchronized.
Since then, Espinosa's triumphs have been practically uninterrupted and some of them have been memorable, such as the first world championship won by a Mexican woman in Rome 2009.