Chris Colwill's Olympic Dives Spur Hometown Pride, Remembrances

Justin Correia said he was a lifeguard when Chris Colwill was a kid learning to master his diving technique at the 49-year-old Brandon Sports & Aquatic Center on Beverly Boulevard. Correia himself, once a national qualifier, learned to swim at the center along with his sister, Maritza, who won a silver medal in 2004 Olympic competition.

"He was an amazing diver back then, everybody used to look at him dive," Correia said Aug. 6 at BSAC, in between the preliminary round dives Aug. 6 that propelled Colwill to the next day's seminfinal competition in the men's 3-meter springboard competition. "Everybody knew he had a special talent."

Correia is the coach of the Blue Wave swim team as BSAC, where Lori Bukaweski serves as the marketing director. At BSAC on Aug. 6 she wore her "Team Colwill 2012" shirt.

"The Colwill family had these shirts made up, we all purchased them in support of Chris," she said. "I'm wearing mine to channel my energy to him. Everybody was supposed to wear theirs today."

"Today" was Aug. 6, the day Colwill's preliminary round drives garnered 461.35 points, enough to place him seventh in the men's 3-meter springboard competition and earn him a slot at semifinal competition today, Aug. 7.

Before heading to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Colwill visited the Brandon Sports & Aquatic Center to meet with hometown supporters. A that qualified for him for this year's Olympics competition ends with Colwill saying, "Eveybody back in Brandon, Florida, I love you guys!"

"He's a standup young man, just a stellar human being, who represents the Brandon area and the community very well," Bukaweski said.

Colwill was slated to dive in the semifinals today, Aug. 7, starting at 5 a.m., followed by the finals at 2 p.m. Live-streaming and recaps are available online at the NBC Olympics Web site.

"Win or lose, his talent is unmatched," Bukaweski said. "Since the time Chris was 3 and started in gymnastics here the Colwill family has been huge BSAC supporters."

Bukaweski noted that Colwill also was a swimmer at BSAC but that swimming bored him, so he turned to diving, where he could blend both his interests in gymnastics and the pool.

"The two came together at about age 5," she said.

"Whether an Olympian or not, every child here has an Olympian experience," Bukaweski said. "They get a sense of what it's like to be an elite athlete swimming and diving in the same pools that an elite athlete uses."

It's great, she added, "for a kid to have a dream and to know things can happen for him."

Correia said he was a iifeguard at BSAC when he first saw Colwill, as a youngster, dive.

"He was really friendly, always nice," he said. "My sister knew him from college. She likes to say she got him to go to the University of Georgia."

Maritza won her Olympic silver medal in 2004.

"Nobody has an idea just how hard it is to make any Olympic team," Justin Correia said. "That's the best of the best right there."

When his sister earned a spot to compete in Athens, Greece "it was one of the proudest moments of my life,"  he said. "I still think of Maritza making the Olympic team as one of the best swimming moments I've ever seen."

Maritza Correia joined the ranks of winning BSAC Olympians, including three-time Olympic gold medalist Brooke Bennett. For BSAC, Justin Correia said, "it means we know how to create Olympians over here."

Bukaweski said this summer's Olympics competition has caused an upsurge in calls of interest in the Brandon center's swimming and gymnastics offerings.

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