Saturday 11 / May / 2024
Gwangju: Olympic stardom, dark thoughts, a tattoo tribute and happy tears at last. Jennifer Abel has got an inspiring story to tell, as the Canadian swimmer scooped silver plus a Tokyo 2020 ticket together with her partner Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard event on Monday.
Jennifer Abel took up diving at the age of four after being inspired by her bother and made a splash onto the Olympic scene as a 16-year old at the Beijing Games back in 2008. Even more impressively, Abel was still only 20 years old when she returned home with an Olympic bronze medal from London 2012 in the 3m springboard synchro event.
The Canadian revelation was expected by most to continue to perform her best dives at the 2016 Rio Olympics following her avant-garde performance in London, but she instead found herself struggling to deliver when the stakes were at the highest.
In Rio de Janeiro, Abel came in fourth in both of her events. She was just so devasted that she considered walking away from the sport entirely. The 2016 Olympics disappointment persuaded Abel to look out for a new diving partner, which she found in Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu.
“It actually took me a year to enjoy diving again. I remember in Budapest at the World Championships, I was a little bit like not in the right place mentally. I had dark thoughts,” said Abel recently in an interview with the Olympic Channel Podcast. “Melissa brought me back to the place where I wanted to be because she enjoys life and diving so much.”
A new dawn
The Canadian duo have developed a strong chemistry since coming together, enjoying successes in the process too – both as a pair and individually. Together they went on to win silver in the 3m synchro event at the 2017 World Championships and Citrini-Beaulieu won four podiums in four World Series events in 2018.
Abel meanwhile surprised everyone by reaching top of the podium in the individual 3m springboard event at the 2019 FINA World Series in Kazan. It was her first-ever gold medal in the FINA Diving World Series.
All roads were ultimately leading to the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, as Abel and Citrini-Beaulieu were ready to take on China in the 3m springboard synchro event. Being both fully prepared physically as well as mentally, the Canadian pair put on a great show, in the end only falling just short as they won silver.
China continued their winning ways at the 18th FINA World Championships as the Chinese duo Han Wang and Tingmao Shi cruised to victory over the Canadian pair. Wang and Shi amassed 342.00 points from their five dives to win ahead of Abel and Citrini-Beaulieu (311.10) and Mexican duo Melany Hernandez and Paolo Espinosa (294.90).
The Chinese pair led through all five round, but they were forced to showcase a grandest performance by Citrini-Beaulieu and Abel – the latter becoming only the third diver to claim more than four World Championships medals (5) in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard event.
“We gave everything and for us that is more important than the gold medal at this moment,” Abel told AIPS. “Sometimes it is not only about winning the first place, but more about the performance and emotion put into it.”
Emotions were indeed running high as there was no shortage of happy tears following the fifth and final dive of the event. “The whole day was so hard for us, especially to stay focused. We woke up really early this morning to make sure that we were prepared for everything. We took charge of the day - we did not want the day to control us. And we can now finally say that we are officially going to the Olympic Games in Tokyo,” Abel said with a smile.
Golden form with Olympics looming
Abel seems to be reaching peak form at the right time, ahead of her individual event and Tokyo 2020. On Thursday, the 27-year old Canadian will give it her all to claim gold at the women’s 3m springboard event.
She said: “This morning, Facebook reminded me it was four years ago that I won a gold medal at the Pan American Games, it was a picture of my niece wearing my medal around her neck. My family is so important to me, they make me feel calm and make sure that I am proud of myself. My brother even got a tattoo of me diving on top of the Olympic Stadium in Montreal – we are all really close.”
Her family is in the meantime patiently waiting for Abel to return home, with one piece of silverware up for the taking already – including plenty of awe-inspiring stories gathered from her time with her partner in crime, both in and outside of the pool.
