Tattooed on Lizzie Cui’s forearm are five interlaced rings.
Cui, a sophomore diver on LSU’s swimming and diving team, decided to get the tattoo after competing in the 2016 Rio games. To Cui, the tattoo represents everything she worked for, what she accomplished and everything she still has to look forward to.
“[The tattoo] is on my arm forever and I got it there so I can see it everyday,” she said. “Just because I’ve been to one Olympics doesn’t mean it is over.”
Cui found out she qualified for the Olympics just weeks before the games started.
She competed for New Zealand, the country she was born and raised in and is the first diver since 1992 to qualify for New Zealand and only the second diver in LSU history to make it to the Olympics.
The Olympics takes 130 divers, men and women, from all over the world. To get in the top 130, Cui had to compete in a series of international competitions. Most of her competitions are collegiate, but the World Championships and World Cup are at the top-most level.
“The World Cup, which was in Rio last year, is where you have to place in one of the top spots,” Cui said. “There is only a certain amount of them. Everyone is trying to get that last spot to the Olympics.”
At the World Cup, the scores aren’t announced immediately, so Cui had to wait to find out if she qualified for the Olympics. While Cui waited for the news, she came back to LSU for the summer to train with the hopes of qualifying, regardless of the outcome.
“With such a small amount only being able to go to the Olympics, I didn’t think that I would make it,” she said. “But I still trained like I was going to and it all fell in place.”
Cui had originally prepared for the 2020 Olympics, so she was in complete shock when she learned she qualified for the 2016 Olympics.
“It’s still an incredible thing to think about,” Cui said. “But now that I’ve actually gone, I realize that the athletes are just like me. They train just like me. They have the same goals as me.”
Cui was relaxed, focused and collected when she arrived at the Olympic Village in Rio, but admits she was star struck by all the athletes walking around.
“Now I feel that I really am worthy of going to the Olympics,” she said.
Cui took her talents to the diving board Aug. 12, her birthday.
She dove in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard, which she also competes in collegiately. That was her only day of competition, but she is already looking forward to the next Olympics and considering how she can take it further next time.
For Cui, it isn’t a question of making it to the Olympics anymore, but rather how well she performs. After Cui competed, she had a few weeks to watch other Olympic events at the and enjoy Rio itself.
“Next time I go,” she said, “I’ll be much more mature in the sport and all the collegiate competition will make me even better. Hopefully, I’ll get an even better result the next time.”
Cui’s coach, Doug Shaffer, feels his responsibility is to help his athletes achieve their goals and aspirations.
Cui began to compete in swimming and diving when she was eight years old, and it has become much more than just a sport to her.
“Every day I fall in love with diving even more,” she said.
As Cui got older and diving became second nature, she started to think about how she could get better competition outside of New Zealand and was on the lookout for schools in the states.
Cui came to the United States last January and was admitted to LSU in the middle of the school year.
She spent more of her time traveling and competing than attending school and had to adjust to a new country. Not only was Cui competing on the collegiate level, she was also trying to stay focused on the Olympics.
Cui now trains with the goal in mind of making it to the top 12 or, ultimately, medaling and placing in the top three.
Shaffer has a simple philosophy about Cui and his team: he just wants them to learn.
“Our sport is like a puzzle,” he said. “You put this particular piece of the puzzle together and you don’t get the end picture until you have all the pieces together. You have to have the vision of what the big picture is going to look like and be willing to stay dedicated to putting the pieces together.”

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Jordan Marcell

The tattoo of the Olympic rings, which LSU sophomore diver, Lizzie Cui, got after attending the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, adorns her forearm on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017 as she speaks about the experience in the LSU Natatorium.