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World Cup competitions Down Under
Canadian aerialist Deidra Dionne may become one of the top young athletes of the 2002 Olympic Games. The 19-year-old was named 1999-2000 World Cup female rookie of the year and won a bronze medal at the World Championships in January. Check out Dionne's diary on CNNSI.com as she trains for Salt Lake. September 21, 2001 It has been such a hectic month, that I don't even know where to begin. I will start with the long journey to Australia. For anyone who has ever flown Down Under, you know the difference between a full airplane, as opposed to a half-empty one. Fortunately for me, my flight was only half-full and I was able to have two seats to myself. I slept around five hours and survived the 20 hours of flying in good humor. I was now in Sydney with only one more hour and one more plane ride before my arrival in Melbourne. After having sat for 20 hours, the hour flew by! I was greeted in Melbourne by the brisk air of an Australian winter (which might I add, is nothing to an Albertan) and another three-hour bus trip to take me to my final destination, Mt. Buller. In total, the trip was 31 hours. I arrived in Mt. Buller around noon and spent the day working out, unpacking and struggling to accustom myself to the time change. By dinnertime I was absolutely exhausted and slightly delirious. My teammate and I would laugh hysterically at things that wouldn't be funny on even our best day! Training commenced the following day. We suffered through rain, wind and fog to warm up our single flips in preparation for the days to come. The weather cleared and the mercury rose for the remainder of our training days. I can't describe the feeling of performing aerials in bright, sunny and calm weather. These are the days that aerialists dream of. I had two good days of jumping, I was able to get up to a double twisting double flip on both days and decided that it would be the highest DD (degree of difficulty) I would perform in the contest. I felt good about my jumping, although my landings were not as clean as they should be. I was dragging my hands along the snow unnecessarily. When I am a little anxious, I tend to not be as aggressive as I am when I am jumping well. I had trained well and was ready to go. Competition day was a nightmare weather wise. The women began their day at 5:45 a.m. Following breakfast and mental preparations, I arrived at the aerial site at 6:45 a.m. The weather had done a complete turn, I was greeted at the site by strong swirling winds. Swirling winds are an aerialist's nightmare. The wind can change the speed of the aerialist drastically. In order to perform our maneuvers safely, consistent speed is essential. Due to the danger of competing in the wind, the contest was delayed an hour and this delay went on for six more hours. We finally began our training at 1 p.m. We had one hour to train, and between the twenty-seven women in the contest it worked out to be three jumps each. The event was altered into a one-jump competition because of the lengthy weather delays. With only one jump, I decided to compete a full full. I was in the later half of the running order, 21st out of 27. I spent the time between training and competing relaxing and listening to music. I tried to calm myself down as much as possible. During my event, I felt pretty good, I was a little anxious, but I had my emotions under control. I heard the top score, which had been posted by Jackie Cooper of Australia, was in the low 90s. It was attainable, but it would have to be pretty close to perfect. I came in feeling pretty confident, but a little slow. I altered my take-off to try and make sure the jump would be straight, it was a bad decision. If you talk to any aerialist they will tell you to always trust the speed you have coming in and adjust in the air. Unfortunately, this mistake caused me some problems on my landing. I wasn't able ski away cleanly and I dragged my right hand behind me, which is a significant deduction. I finished the day with 71.17 points and an incredibly disappointing 11th place. The day wasn't over yet. After the contest it is essential to forget what happens to me (good or bad) because as a member of the team I have other responsibilities. The men on my team begin training immediately after the women and compete one hour later. Factoring in the delays to the women's competition, the men had an extremely late start. My task for the day was to record all of the incoming speed of our males during training so they are aware of the speed they need for their competition jump. Similar to the women, the men's format had been changed to a one-jump contest because daylight was quickly running out. The contest went well for the men, as the team placed two on the podium. It was a long day, beginning at 6:45 a.m. and returning to the hotel at 6 p.m. I had enough energy to eat a little dinner, meditate for a half an hour and try to focus on doing it all over again the next day with the hope of better results. Day 2 Once again, I was up at 5:45 a.m. and ready to go on the hill at 6:45 a.m. Once again, the weather was disastrous. There was a strong head wind; the fog was so heavy we were unable to see the jumps from the starting position. Once again, the contest was delayed one hour at a time until it was finally altered to a one-jump contest that was a go at 1 p.m. Once again, we had approximately three training jumps per athlete. And once again I was in the later half of the running order. I was running seventeenth out of the twenty-seven competitors. I was feeling good although I was having the same troubles with my landings in training I was trying to be as positive as possible about my competition jump. I was much more relaxed than the day before. I felt confident I could put it together for the one jump I had left in Australia. The leader at the time was Assol Shivets, a young Belarussian; she posted a strong score of 90. I knew I could beat it. My approach into the jump was full of confidence. I stayed as tight as I could throughout the air; saw the landing the whole way, landed on my feet, but not as cleanly as I anticipated. I landed and let my butt fall deep into the squat position. This caused me to lose essential points that could have meant the difference between the podium and the 78 points and 10th place that I finished in. Part of performing not up to par is coming away having learned something from your experience. It took me a long time to figure out what I did wrong with these two contests. I felt really good on both days, and I stayed positive and ready to go throughout all of the delays. I wasn't overly anxious and felt confident coming into both competition jumps. So what do I need to change? I have decided that it is my starting point. I feel like I am on the right track and I believe in myself. I need to pay more attention to the little details, making sure that every landing is aggressive and that I don't become passive out of habit. The more and more I compete with these feelings and attitudes; the better I am going to do. I am confident that I am moving in the right direction, although based on results, it would look like a step back. So what now? I am finally back in Lake Placid after a disastrous trip home. Unfortunately, five of my teammates and I were in the air on our way home when terror struck in the United States. We were stranded in Los Angeles for three days before we decided to rent two vehicles and drive to Vancouver. I flew out of Vancouver in time to make it to Calgary for a day before my flight left back to Toronto. After a quick visit with my family and an appearance in Toronto at our annual golf tournament, I made the drive back to my place in Placid. Training on water resumes tomorrow. I have a lot of work to do to ensure I stay on my schedule as the winter competition season is fast approaching. -- Deidra
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