Maycey Vieta knew six months ahead of time that she would participate in the upcoming Paris Olympics, but the Gahanna Lincoln graduate still finds herself in the middle of a whirlwind as The Games approach.
Vieta, who will compete in individual 10-meter platform diving Aug. 5, visited Paris a few weeks ago to get a lay of the land. She will return Thursday, eight days before the opening ceremonies.
In between those overseas jaunts came rigorous training at her college alma mater, Purdue, with several former teammates who themselves were preparing for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
And that training came amid a move back to central Ohio. Although after she returns from France, she will relocate to the Phoenix area, where her mother, Julie, recently got a new job.
“I’m honestly enjoying every second,” Vieta said.
Vieta clinched her Olympic berth in February by virtue of a 15 th -place finish in the World Aquatic Championships in Doha, Qatar . She needed a top-18 finish to advance.
Vieta will represent Puerto Rico as its only diver rather than the U.S. because of family heritage on her father’s side. Her paternal grandfather was born and raised in Puerto Rico, which despite being a U.S. territory, competes independently.
“Since (February), my training cycle has looked a little bit different than my (Purdue) teammates because they were preparing for the U.S. Olympic Trials,” Vieta said. “It’s about repetition, just getting up there, getting comfortable and doing as much as I can so my body can get used to the higher demand of training. Once I get to Paris, it will be less numbers (of dives) and more quality, trying to find my spots and getting a better feel of everything.”
Vieta’s athletic career began at age 6 when she participated in gymnastics, but diving stole center stage when she took that up five years later.
Vieta competed for the Ohio State Diving Club and became a four-time Division I state meet qualifier at Gahanna, winning state in 2017 , finishing second in 2018 and 2019 as a senior and capturing district titles her junior and senior seasons.
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Vieta was Big Ten champion in platform in 2023 , runner-up in 2020 and 2022 and was a four-time All-American.
“If there was any kid I could have picked out (to make the Olympics), it was her,” said Jill McInerney, Vieta’s former club and high school coach. “She’s been able to stay focused and still love the sport even training as much as she does. You see so many burn out, and I never saw any bit of that from her. Sure there were times when she was tired and exhausted, but she was always driven in every aspect of the sport, whether it was lifting, dryland or in the pool.
“That drive is very rare.”
Diving will be held at the Olympics Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis, France, a suburb of Paris.
The qualifying round begins at 4 a.m. ET Aug. 5. The semifinals and finals follow five hours later.
More: How to follow all of USA TODAY's Paris Olympics coverage and where to find it
Vieta hesitated to set a goal for Paris.
“It’s really just focusing on what I’ve been working on,” Vieta said. “That’s my cues and the fact that I’ve prepared for the past five years. My coaches and I focus on each dive, one dive at a time, and how can I execute them the best that I can?
“Wherever that lands me is where I land. I don’t think I want to have some sort of expectation or I have to do this, make the final, whatever. Of course that’s a dream, but it’s about taking one step at a time, focusing on each dive as an individual dive and seeing where that takes me.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'Enjoying every second': Gahanna's Maycey Vieta prepares to dive in Paris Olympics
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