13 Aug 2012 Boudia Family Journal

We have gone through an incredible couple of days - It is so difficult to describe the range of emotions we have experienced as a family, and are so blessed to have such great support.

Going into the Prelims of the 10meter event we felt the normal family pre-competition jitters, our thoughts about David's performance was that he would pace himself the way he normally does in these kind of prelim events that have 30 or more divers.  Over the years David has adopted a skill set to be able to manage long ques between dives, it has served him well at National and International events.

With 6 divers left in the final round David was 17th - with two of the six divers being UK divers who had a legitimate shot at knocking David out of the competition.  We expected Tom Daly to perform his final dive well (he always does!), which left Pete needing a perfect dive to punch his ticket.  I have seen him do this dive perfectly and I knew it was in his wheelhouse to be able to do this.  It proved to be to much for Pete and David made it into the semi's.

What a lesson in humility...

It was late when we returned to our flat (after midnight on Sat), and we had to be back at Olympic park by 0800 the next day for Semi's.

David's fate rested clearly in Gods hands, he had accepted it, his fantastic coach and his wife accepted it - inwardly we all had accepted it; outwardly we were all nervous wrecks!  Seeing David before the start of the Semi's I could see the confidence back in his face - all of us knew after David's first dive that he had recovered from the prelims.

 David's faith has instilled this incredible peace within him - its the foundation for his approach to life and his diving, and its absolutely amazing to see Gods will at work through him.

David finished semi's solidly in 3rd behind the GB's Tom Daly and in front the powerhouse Chinese.  Since David is a bit of an adrenaline junky its only fitting that he compete for the finals in the position he was seeded so he could feed off of the performance of the home town favorite.

We spent the day in Olympic Park with my sister her husband and the Brand family - we are so grateful for such incredible support of David through all of this; and what great fellowship to have family with you through these crazy events. 

Olympic Park was packed with folks from Track and Field venue, the Basketball venue, the BMX track venue - it was literally a sea of people - truly amazing sight. The 10meter Finals was one of the premier events and was strategically scheduled as a  key event to watch, just another item that added to the anxiety of the day. Bob Kravitz one of Indianapolis's key sportswriters caught up with us before the event to wish us luck, it was nice to see the local coverage for David.

After introductions, Sheilagh and I were repositioned in different seats (Bob called them the "Cheapseats") and we got settled in to watch.  Round by round it all seems like a blur, kind of like an out of body experience.  Looking up to see David leading this pack of incredible divers round after round was unbelievable, he was absolutely unflappable!  Sheilagh said her heart was going to explode and I had to remind her to breathe.  When the 5th round scoring summary came up - we were absolutely blown away.  1st 2nd and 3rd separated by less then .15 of a point... Holy Crap!  And David was tied for second with the Chinese diver who was heavily favored to win.  Both David and Bo had higher degree of difficulty dives then Tom which put those two in pretty good shape to overcome the home town favorite. 

This is the part that truly blows me away, with Tom getting a 10 and other high marks it was up to David to "do what he does".  This all seems like a slow motion video to me as I watched David's final Dive.  His takeoff from the tower was strong and clean as he was spinning, he had a great pike out into a comeout just above the 3meter were he lined up the entry and punched into the water - I just knew it was going to be something special and I couldn't contain myself. I realized that I had jumped to my feet screaming - I think the folks in our section thought I was crazy...

Bo needed 102 points to beat David, both Sheilagh and I simply looked at the scoreboard and realized that David had just secured the silver medal we looked at each other shaking our heads in disbelief.  When Bo went into the water hitting his dive a little short we both started thinking "could this really be?"  When the scores came up, all I could do was bury my face in my hands, thank God for revealing his glory and saying a prayer of thanks.  Sheilagh and I stood up and cried in each others arms.

David Boudia - Olympic Champion

2 Aug 2012 Boudia Family Journal

Our plans for the following day of sightseeing was to spend some quality time with David. 

USA Diving is using a small town north of London as a bit of a sanctuary for the USA Diving Team.  Our plans where to travel by light rail north to Sheffeild and spend the day with David.  They have an aquatic center so he can practice - and its a great opportunity to see some of this amazing country side.

Sheffield has been the location to several international meets and the divers are pretty familar with the area.  The town itself is pretty industrialized with a couple of steel mills just outside of town.  How do you describe another 12000 year old city....  I would say "pretty amazing"!

We didnt' ride in the first class cabin but as you can see - Shaila traveled quite comfortably, as well as the rest of our clan.  It was a very fast train as well.

Keeping in mind the primary reason for our little road trip was to have some classic family time with David, of course its always a bonus when we can watch David practice which we did at the local aquatic center, which goes by the name of "Ponds Forge".

We enjoyed a nice meal, and played some championship ping pong crowning Sonnie as the individual high point winner and Shauni and Sonnie as the team victors.  Common denominator.. yeah its pretty evident.  I am going to have to break out my ping pong table and knock the dust off those paddles. 

We are looking forward to Jeanne and Les (My sister and brother-in-law) making thier way to our Flat so we can continue this incredible journey with them.

We are planning another incredible sightseeing tour of Central London - its truly incredible to see such history around every corner- what an incredible host Olympic city

for now God Bless

jim and sheilagh 

29 July 2012 Boudia Family Journal London

30 July 2012 London 2012 Journey Redefined continues...

Leaving for Olympic Park yesterday morning it all seems just a little surreal.

Now we celebrate with David and Nick (and Coaches Adam and Drew) on their incredible efforts taking home the Bronze Olympic medal in Mens 10Meter Sychro.

 

Of course deep down inside we knew that our day wasn't quite so simple.

Our day started early in our "Let" as everyone was up early preparing for the 1500hr start time of the Guys event. There was a bit of anxiety in the air as we went about preparing - of course everyone was so aware of magnitude of the today's event.

Leaving Parsons Green on the "district line" through 11 stops to Westminster, where we dropped down to the "Jubilee Line" which would take us to our final destination at Stratford station - in all about a 50 minute ride but quite comfortable. The city of London and their transit system is incredible!

Upon our arrival we met up at the Westfield Mall with Brand family who is now collectively the other half of our supporting crew. We journeyed through gates into security and on to the Pool, which is an incredible venue.

We met up with Anne Marie Tiernon and Bob Kravitz who are our own Indy based NBC representatives. It is such an honor to be able to share such an incredible journey with family, friends, and neighbors.

Walking into the Olympic Venue is all that many of you have already seen and it truly a remarkable structure. We caught a glimpse of our guys warming up, but of course with all the people in the building we where barely recognizable except for our American Flag and #JourneyRedefined tshirts which depict David's mindset for the London 2012 Olympic games.

The event was incredible to watch, the British crowd cheered madly for thier hometown boys! Because of the magnitude of this event any miss is a dagger and that left the door wide open for Team USA. The Mexico Team had DD (degree of difficulty) like crazy! Thier efforts although a bit risky "paid off" for them and they collected the Silver medal behind the ever so consistent Chinese.

The awards ceremony was special seeing our great flag hoisted in the air celebrating a tremendous performance. It was an absolute whirlwind afterwards as Sheilagh, Sonnie and I retreated across the huge expanse of the Olympic Park to the press area meet up with David and Nick. The rest of our families went to the P&G house to await our arrival. It was great seeing both David and Nick (and Nicks Family) afterwards - these two guys are truly a class act!

We had a chance to unwind with David afterwards before rejoining our family at the P&G House and I could see the tremendous relief in his face and sheer exhaustion consume his body. We plan on joining the families and David together tonite at the USA House which is in Kensington Park. This will be a fun celebration and reunion.

Its been more then a single emotional day... the struggles of the last four years, complete with lifes ups and downs are quickly overshadowed by that massive medal and the firm belief that this is all part of Gods plan.

The Olympic journey continues ... God bless you all!

1 Aug 2012 Boudia Family Journal London 2012

The agenda of the day was to get in a little sightseeing in Central London. Our goal was to visit the London Eye , Travel down the Thames, visit Trafalger park, Buckingham Palace and try to get Beach Volleyball tickets at the Horse Guard Parade Grounds.

Pretty modest plans I would say.  Of course managing the logistics of getting the Brand and Boudia Family together might be a bit of a challenge.

The logistics where actually quite easy to manage and it was an excellent experience and great fellowship with David's future in laws.

Once again we started at the P&G House to start our day with some pretty incredible hospitality

Our first objective was to travel by bus to the London Eye, we tried to get on a double decker bus but will have wait for that opportunity on another mission.

The London Eye was constucted as part of the millenium project in 2000.  Each capsule can hold 25 people and it takes 30minutes to complete a full revolution.  Pretty spectacular views as well!

 

The river boat ride down the Thames was pretty amazing as well - the sites and sounds of London are pretty incredible.

More picture and more updates to come. 

 

30 July 2012

Family Supporters during the Mens 10Meter Synchro Finals

We so thankful for our family and friends supporting David from around the world and locally 

- Picture is a courtesy of Anne Marie Tiernon

Pictured from Left to Right

Jerry Brand

Rachelle Brand

Sonnie Brand

Karalee Brand

Anne Marie Tiernon

Jeff Brand

Shaila Boudia

Fernando Guedes

Shauni Boudia

Jim Boudia