Will Wilkinson perform a 'monster dive'?

Here are some snippets from a USA Diving press conference earlier on Sunday in Beijing:

Laura Wilkinson

Q: Are you planning to use a monster dive as part of your program in Beijing?
A: “I’ve been training it, but we’re not sure if we’re going to use it. We’ll keep training it for another week and maybe make a decision. It’s a 3.8 in difficulty.”

Q: Can you win the gold again?
A: “All the pieces are there. It all depends on who’s on their mental game that day, that moment. Diving’s a crazy sport. You have five rounds and you never know what’s going to happen.”

Kelci Bryant

Q: Does having a Chinese coach (Wenbo Chen) on your team help as far as a home-court advantage?
A: “We’re not the only country that has a Chinese coach in diving. Australia has Chinese coaches, Great Britain has Chinese coaches. I don’t think it gives us an advantage, but I think he’s the best coach. A lot or Chinese coaches have moved on to other countries.”

Troy Dumais

Q: What will be the deciding factor in what people will say is a face off between China and the United States?
A: “I don’t see anything between China and the United States because we compete together, we’re friends and we have a great time together. We compete to better each other. In a nutshell what’s going to decide who wins and who gets second, it becomes a mental game. Everybody who is here is prepared for the competition. It’s that given day that a certain athlete can prove themselves to be ahead of the game by being prepared and ready for whatever situation comes out.”

Photo: Laura Wilkinson during a practice dive at the National Aquatic Center in Beijing on Sunday. Credit: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images