RIO DE JANEIRO – Five divers with ties to Indiana University will be participating in the 2016 FINA Diving World Cup in Rio de Janeiro starting on Friday. The five-day event runs through February 24.
Among the participants are three current members of the Indiana diving team – Jessica Parratto, Michael Hixon and James Connor. IU alumni Amy Cozad and Emad Abdellatif will also be diving at the event.
Parratto, Cozad and Hixon will be diving for Team USA, which will be led by IU head diving coach Drew Johansen, while Connor will be diving for Australia and Abdellatif will be diving for Egypt.
Parratto will be diving in the women’s 10-meter and will also team up with Cozad to dive in the 10-meter synchro. Hixon will dive in the 3-meter springboard, while Abdellatif will dive in both the 3-meter springboard and the 3-meter synchro. Finally, Connor will dive in the 3-meter springboard, the 3-meter synchro and the 10-meter synchro.
The FINA Diving World Cup is the final opportunity for countries to qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games in diving events. Each country may qualify a maximum of 12 spots in diving – one in each of the four synchronized events and two in each of the four individual events.
The U.S. has secured two of its possible 12 quota spots thus far, having earned one men’s 10-meter spot and one women’s 10-meter spot, with Cozad earning it for Team USA with her sixth-place finish at the 2015 World Championships.
All quota spots earned are for the country, not the divers or teams who secured them. The U.S. will select its 2016 Olympic Team at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Diving in Indianapolis from June 18-26.
The 2016 FINA Diving World Cup will be broadcast in the United States on Universal HD and NBC Sports Network. All finals are scheduled to be broadcast, with the majority of finals set to be aired on same-day delay. The men’s 10-meter final is scheduled to air live on February 24.
Swimming news courtesy of Indiana Swimming & Diving.