GRAPEVINE -- When Troy Dumais strains a shoulder on his 3-meter dive or Christina Loukas feels a muscle twinge, both divers on the U.S. Olympic team will be seeing Terry Robinson for help getting them ready for their next dive.
The Grapevine physical therapist is the U.S. diving team's head athletic trainer. His voluntary job is to watch over each of the team's 11 divers to ensure that they are able to perform at their peak level and, hopefully, bring home a medal."In the sport of diving, you don't see trauma like in football or basketball," Robinson said last week before leaving to join the team in Maryland prior to their flight to London. "We see overuse injuries like shoulder injuries, a lot of rotator cuff and spine issues from impact with the water and from twisting and piking."The worst possible injuries for divers are those that involve hitting the board or platform, he said."At the Olympic trials in Seattle [last month], unfortunately some divers had hit the board with hand, feet, back and even head."Robinson, the owner of Grapevine Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, has had a general physical therapist practice since 1996. This will be his second trip to the Olympics. He also was with the dive team at the 1996 Atlanta games.He said he has more than 20 years with national diving. After volunteering in 1990 to help with a national championship at Southern Methodist University, he was invited back to subsequent meets. He helped develop the training and medical protocols for dive injuries."I go on five to eight trips a year to help coordinate the medical care," Robinson said. "It does take a lot of time away from work and family. But I know the athletes and they know me, and I know diving."He said there will not be much opportunity to do any sightseeing in London during the Olympics, which start with the opening ceremony Friday and conclude Aug. 12. However, Robinson said he was with the team at the London Olympic diving venue in February for the World Diving Cup meet and had a chance to see the sights then.The diving schedule is tight with medal events on eight separate days. There will be training sessions twice each off day. Robinson has to be poolside every time a U.S. diver is jumping into the water.Like many of the other coaches, trainers and others who support the athletes, Robinson will be staying in the Olympic Village. He is waiting word on whether or not he will get to march into the sports stadium with the U.S. contingent during the opening ceremony.Robinson said the current dive team is the best the country has sent to the Olympics in years."I have a bet with the president of U.S. Diving that we will win three medals," he said. The last time an American won a diving medal was in Sydney, Australia, in 2000 when Laura Wilkinson won a gold medal. The last men's medal was a bronze in 1996.At the Beijing games four years ago, the Chinese dominated the diving events with 11 medals, six of which were gold.Win, loose or just watching, there is nothing like being at an Olympics, Robinson said."During a practice session, with no one in the stands, it could be any pool in the world," he said. "But during a medal contest, with 17,000 people in the stands chanting, the excitement, the lights, it gets your heart pumping. I'm looking forward to walking out of the tunnel to the pool. The intensity ... that's what the athletes trained for."He said there are some new members on the national team plus some, such as Dumais and Loukas, who were in Beijing.At the Olympic Trials, 120 divers competed for 14 slots on the U.S. team. With a couple of multi-event winners, 11 athletes were selected.