Despite the fact the outcome was never in question, David Boudia and Nick McCrory showed the kind of discipline that may be required to medal at the London Olympics.
That discipline led them to produce three rounds of consistent diving on the way to a 180.78 point victory over the second place team of Steele Johnson and Toby Stanley in men's synchronized platform at the 2012 Olympic Diving Trials in Federal Way, Wash.
Producing rounds of 463.83, 456.03 and 467.80, the team stayed focused despite not being challenged over the two days of synchro competition, an aspect of the competition that Boudia admitted was a challenge.
“You have to control your mind,” said Boudia.
The Olympic team berth is the second for Boudia having made the team in 2008, but the trip to London will represent McCrory's first Olympic experience.
“It feels incredible,” said McCrory “This has been my dream. I’ve finally reached my lifetime goal.”
Any one of their rounds of diving would have won them a medal at the most recent world championships or the 2008 Beijing Olympics, so the challenge will be to recreate that type of diving in London. But that will be against stronger competition and against competitors whom Boudia and McCrory know all too well.
“We know exactly who we are going against,” said Boudia, not naming a team in particular but acknowledging that the Chinese are the team to beat.
While never really in the hunt for the Olympic berth, second place Steele and Stanley were happy with their performance.
“It would have been really hard to beat them (Boudia and McCrory),” said Steele. “I was just having a blast diving, getting better and learning from our experiences. I’m looking forward to 2016.”
“The experience was great,” added Stanley. “The crowd was great, I just want it again.”
With the synchro behind them, Boudia and McCrory will now focus on the individual platform final that will take place on Saturday. They are 1-2 in the standings and will need to switch gears from collaborators to competitors.
“It will be decided this Saturday,” said Boudia. “We will go into it with the same attitude we always have.”
The men’s platform final will take place Saturday, June 23 at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.