Woodlands-trained divers look to make Olympic history in Rio

HOUSTON – Some of the best divers in the country have trained at The Woodlands Diving Academy.
       
Now two such athletes with Texas ties are looking to showcase their elite training in Rio.
       
The Woodlands native Kassidy Cook has been diving her whole life.
       
Cook told KPRC Channel 2, "The Woodlands has been a very elite level of diving teams since early on, before I was even born, so being able to grow up on that team has been a real blessing."
       
Cook missed making the 2012 Olympic team by .42 point, but has since left Stanford to return home to The Woodlands to focus on making the team.

For inspiration, she looks to Troy Dumais, who also trained in The Woodlands for much of his career. Dumais now lives in Austin and is aiming for a record fifth Olympic team.
       
Dumais said, "With more experience, you might overthink it and that's the one thing that I had been doing the last three years going into the World Cup.  I'd been trying to do too much instead of just letting myself go, like when I was 16 years old."
       
Dumais brought home bronze in 2012, while Cook brought home heartache.
       
Cook said, "It's made me a stronger person. I faced major heartbreak in 2012 after missing it, so it's kind of hard to get over that, especially with having two shoulder surgeries and a knee surgery."
       
Dumais added, "She's answered the test, her life test in diving, and she's stronger and better than she ever has been."