All season the LSU swimming and diving teams prepare to compete in the Southeastern Conference Championship.
On Feb. 14, the teams finally traveled to Columbia, Missouri to finally present their season’s work — all except one Lady Tiger.
Freshman diver Lizzie Cui has her eyes on something even higher than an SEC championship: an Olympic Qualification.
Cui, who represents New Zealand on the international level, will participate in the FINA Diving World Cup in Rio De Janeiro on Feb. 19. The competition will give her a chance to become the first Olympic diver for New Zealand since 1992.
“It is really nerve wracking, but training is going pretty well,” Cui said. “So, I just need to keep my head on the goal, and hopefully I will get there.”
The Diving World Cup is one of three ways to qualify for the Olympics, along with continental qualifiers and the 2015 FINA World Championships, in which Cui represented New Zealand.
Cui finished 36th in the three-meter springboard preliminaries with a score of 233.70 in the FINA World Championships in July and August before she had even set foot on LSU’s campus as a student. In Rio, as many as 18 will have a chance to qualify for the Olympics in the three-meter springboard.
Cui also performed in the one-meter dive, which is not an Olympic event, finishing 24th in the FINA Championships.
“It was the biggest competition that I have been in to date,“ Cui said. “I gained so much experience from it. I took back a lot about competing on the world stage. Overall, I think I did pretty well considering it was my first time.”
Although she will not be diving off the one-meter springboard in Rio this summer, Cui has dived from it for LSU this semester.
As an international student, Cui started at the University during the spring semester since school ends near the fall semester in New Zealand.
The SEC swimming and diving season was already winding down when Cui joined the team, allowing her to participate in only two meets.
In her first meet for the Lady Tigers against Texas A&M on Jan. 23, Cui finished second in the one-meter with a 288.08 and third in three-meter with a 286.73. The scores were high enough for Cui to qualify for the NCAA championships, a victory for the Lady Tigers.
It did not take long for Cui to turn a morale victory to an actual one.
In her second meet, a quad meet against three other teams in Houston, Cui won in the one-meter dive and finished third in the three-meter dive.
“She is showing the level of athlete and ability that she has,” said LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer. “Coming off the holiday, starting in January, and not going through the normal fall process, everything has been new and a little rushed. She is going to get better in every single meet and practice. She really has a bright future ahead of her.”
Despite the midseason entrance to the team, Cui has made a name for herself as a Lady Tiger.
Although she will not be at the SEC championship, Cui said she will be following along and rooting for her friends and teammates. Her teammates plan on following along while she competes for a place in the Olympics.
“It is really exciting for her. I am glad that she is going,” said junior diver Andrew Suchla. “We are really happy she is on the team. We are going to miss her, of course, at SEC’s, but we will see what we can do without her.
Cui, for her part, said the quality of athletes in the LSU program, like senior divers Cassie Weil and Allie Alter, were one of the main reasons Cui came to Baton Rouge.
Shaffer said he wanter Cui to dive for LSU after seeing her results in international competition. Cui had been a five time national champion in New Zealand in high school and attracted attention from across the world.
There has been more than just cultural and climate adjustments in Louisiana for Cui, she has had to adjust to cultural differences in diving between the USA and New Zealand.
“Diving in New Zealand is really small and none of it is government funded,” she said. “If you want to compete on the world stage, you have to provide for yourself. Also, the competition here is much tougher, which helps with my diving.”
The FINA World Cup will be another adjustment for Cui. It is the third continent she will be on in the last two months.
Cui said she is not intimidated by the challenge. She has already gone against some of the toughest competition and held her own.
Being an Olympic athlete would be huge as both a Lady Tiger and a New Zealander for Cui, who said she enjoys representing both her college and her country. If Cui makes it to the Olympics she would be the first Olympic diver from New Zealand since she was born,
The chance to make history is not lost on Cui. She hopes to inspire others in New Zealand to compete in diving.
“I really would like to set a good example for the younger kids so that New Zealand can get bigger in diving,” Cui said.