Laval divers journeying to China, to prospect for gold

The competition also served as the National Summer Diving Championships. Experts expected fierce competition at these trials, with projections for both tears of joy and tears of agony, especially among the girls.

Marie-Ève Marleau was the first to qualify in the women's 10 m tower, June 20. Two spots were at stake. Èmilie Heymans qualified for her third Olympics, finishing first with a points-total of 766.80. Marleau, of Sainte-Rose, was crowned Canadian runner-up with a second-place point total of 726.40, good enough for Beijing where she'll participate in her first Olympic competition. She finished ahead of Meaghen Benfeito (725.65) and Roseline Filion ((710.45).

Just prior to her points total being posted on the board, following her last dive, Marleau looked towards the stands with an eye to locating her parents, Diane and Maurice, and her 27-year-old brother, François. "When I saw my parents jump, I knew I had qualified. I felt intense joy. It made my last four years of diving all worthwhile. It was the culmination of 20 years of work, 10 of them in gymnastics and 10 in diving," she proudly explained.

But it didn't come easy for the 26-year-old who experienced some difficulty in her first two dives in the final phase of the competition, even though she had led the preliminary rounds with 307 points.

"I knew I needed to score high marks in my last dive and I gave it my all. I was confident in my last three dives. My experience was a great help in dealing with the stress. It was an intense week. You could feel the tension," said the athlete who stayed over in Vancouver a few days after the trials ended. "I'm with a friend, Émilie Fournier, an ex-gymnast who's now with the Cirque du Soleil. I'm going to see her show," she added.

Despite her coach's optimism, Filion herself did not believe she had any chance of going to Beijing. But her disappointment was short-lived, lasting only until the following day when she qualified in the women's 10 m synchro with partner Meaghen Benfeito. The pair finished first.

Winners of the bronze medal at the 2005 world championships in Montreal, the pair won the gold medal this time, finishing with 686.28 points, combining the results of the preliminary round and those of the finals. There was only one spot left for Beijing.

"It was a nice birthday gift. I'm going to spend a nice summer," said the 20-year-old who'll turn 21 July 3. "You couldn't have dreamed of a better outcome. We're all going to the games."

Despite their dominance of the Benfeito-Filion duo throughout the year, world champions Émilie Heymans and Marie-Ève Marleau had to content themselves with second place (674.97 points).

"It's an incredible feeling. We shattered two personal bests to earn a spot for Beijing. We dove extremely well. I still haven't fully come to grips with it," said Filion, a smile in her voice. "We can concentrate on a single event now, and we can't do anything else but improve. Winning a medal in Beijing is not out of the realm of possibility," Filion concluded.

As for Marie-Ève Marleau, the pill of defeat was very hard to swallow. "I saw myself in the 10 m synchro in Beijing. We have good chances for a medal in the games. Meaghen and Roseline performed well. They dove better than we did in these trials," she concluded.

Joining Despatie, Filion, and Marleau in Beijing will be Jennifer Abel, who earned a spot in the 3 m springboard. (See story "At Sweet Sixteen…")