Jennifer Abel dives for silver in Germany

Fully satisfied with her performance at this competition held in Aix-La-Chapelle (Aachen), the Laval diver nonetheless says she wasn't at top form following her participation in her first-ever Olympic Games, in Beijing.

"With all the Olympic pressure off my back, combined with my long season, I felt very tired," she told Courrier Laval, adding that she still managed to pull off some good dives that capped off her year on a positive note.

In the three metres, she thought she could carry off the gold in the same competition that saw her finish third two years earlier.

Finishing first in the preliminaries, Abel ended up on the second rung of the podium just a few miniscule points shy of the gold won by her principal rival.

Same story in the 1 metre where the 17-year-old led after the preliminaries but slipped enough in the finals to drop to fourth, outside of the medals.

"It's no big deal," she reassures. "The important thing for me is that I pulled off some good dives, despite the circumstances. Once again, I was very tired. I'm now going to take advantage of my holidays to get some rest away from the pool."

Next on tap for the young Laval diver are the Canadian Senior Championships scheduled for February of 2009.

Photo:AngJun1.jpg

(Photo: Martin Alarie)



Photo:AngJun.jpg

(Photo: Martin Alarie)