Synch or Dive

If there is such a thing as a home-pool advantage, Indianapolis-based synchronized divers David Boudia and Thomas Finchum could be benefitting come the middle of June. Boudia and Finchum, 18-year-olds who are home-schooled due to the demands affiliated with gold medal dreams such as theirs, train with coach John Wingfield at the IUPUI Natatorium, host of the 2008 Olympic Trials scheduled for June 18-22. One may ask, "What is synchronized diving?" Probably best to let a synchro expert like Wingfield handle this one: "In synchronized diving, the divers are doing difficult dives with both divers doing the motions together. It is very hard," he explains. "(Boudia and Finchum) do a back 2 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists off of a 10-meter platform. That and probably their 3 1/2 reverse somersault tuck, and there are probably only four or five teams in the world that can do that." If this sounds difficult, it is. If it sounds as though Boudia, a Noblesville High School student through the 10th-grade, and Finchum, a regular at Lutheran High School until completion of the first semester of his freshman year, have dedicated countless hours to the goal of winning gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they have. Wingfield estimates the duo puts in between 36 and 44 hours of training per week, which means a lot of early-morning alarms, not to mention sacrifice. Monday through Friday, Boudia and Finchum train from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday means at the pool by 7:30 and finished by 1 p.m. Sundays are days off - usually. At least they're supposed to be. In early December the two competed internationally at a meet in Montreal in which they placed third in the 3-meter synchro springboard event. Boudia and Finchum also were third in the 10-meter platform competition. The United States is permitted to send one men's synchro tandem to Beijing for 10-meter platform competition and one for the 3-meter springboard. Same holds true for the U.S. women. Individually, Boudia and Finchum are also accomplished 10-meter platform divers. This means both are bidding to become Olympians in as many as three events. The 6-foot Finchum is the taller of the two as Boudia stands 5-8, yet there are other differences. Finchum, says his coach, is the more graceful diver, while Boudia is more muscular in appearance. Whatever differences there are separating these two young men, physical or otherwise, vanish once it's time to compete. Or take on the world as the case may soon be.