DIVING: Loudy Wiggins and Rachel Bugg take to the tower tomorrow at the London Aquatics Centre with contrasting Olympic experiences but a united focus in the women’s synchronised 10m platform event.

Bugg will be taking her first steps into the Olympic Arena while Wiggins walks a well-worn path, competing in her fourth Olympic Games during a glittering career.

If not for a cruel injury leading into the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Wiggins could have been joining the illustrious five-time Olympian club in London.

Now, following a short-lived retirement, the married mother-of-one returns to Olympic competition in the event where she became Australia’s first diving medallist in 76 years when she combined with Rebecca Gilmour to claim bronze at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Four years earlier she made her Olympic Games debut as a baby-faced 17-year-old when she finished 19th in the 3m springboard at the Athens 1996 Olympic Games.

Back then she competed as Loudy Tourky, but it’s not the only thing that has changed since the 33-year-old last stepped into the Olympic Arena at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

In 2004 Loudy Tourky claimed individual bronze in the women’s 10m platform, joining gold-medallist Chantelle Newbury on the dais in what was an historic night for Australian diving.

She continued on her merry way at the 2006 Commonwealth Games claiming two gold medals in the 10m platform and 10m synchronised events in Melbourne but a snapped achilles tendon at the 2008 Olympic Diving Trials sent her into retirement.

She wasted no time getting on with life, marrying former Carlton AFL player Simon Wiggins, giving birth to daughter Layla and starting a successful career in the corporate world.

Life had moved on until the competitive juices started to flow and she launched a comeback with an eye on the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The fairytale return to the Olympic Games started to materialise at the 2012 Australian Diving Championships when she took out the 10m platform event but her Olympic Games position was sealed when she combined with Bugg to win the 10m synchronised Nomination Trial.

Bugg’s path to the Olympic Games started as a gymnast, where she competed at State level for seven years before switching to diving at the age of 12.

The 23-year-old combined with Hannah Thek in the women’s synchronised 10m platform competition but crossed paths with Wiggins when Thek was injured in 2011.

On a limited preparation, Bugg and Wiggins sealed their Olympic Games qualification with the next tale in the fairytale to play out tomorrow in London.

David Mason in London
olympics.com.au