Smithfield, Y. diver goes for 2nd Games

Justin Wilcock's back.

      Anatomically speaking, a severely injured back resulted in

Wilcock — the Smithfield native and 2004 Olympian — posting a

last-place finish at the Athens Games.

      Figuratively speaking, Wilcock is hoping to repeat as a member of

the U.S. Olympic diving team and punch his ticket for the 2008 Beijing

Games later this summer.

      He's one of a dozen men vying for top spot on the 3-meter

springboard at this week's U.S. Olympic Diving Trials, which began

Wednesday and run through Sunday at the IUPUI Natatorium in

Indianapolis.

      Preliminaries for the men's 3-meter begin early this afternoon,

with the semifinals held later this evening. The men's and women's

3-meter finals will begin Saturday at 1 p.m. MDT and will be shown live

on NBC.

      Four divers will earn guaranteed Olympic team berths this week — the winners of the four events (men's and women's 3-meter springboard

and men's and women's 10-meter platform).A second diver in each event as well as the sychronized teams in

the four events will be chosen July 7 after a weeklong selection camp

in Tennessee, with the top six finishers from each event invited.

      A new twist to this year's Olympic trials — scores will be

combined from the prelims, semis and finals, with the winning divers

those with the highest aggregate scores throughout. The format was

changed after the U.S. was shut out of diving medals at the 2004 Athens

Games — the first time in 92 years — and is designed to reward a

diver's consistency.