(Montreal)

DAVE STUBBS
Friday 30 July 1999

There's something in the water at Centre Claude Robillard, and more often than not Michel Larouche turns it into a champion.

His belt bears another notch this morning.

Since 1990, the head coach of the CAMO diving club has produced 48 national diving titlists at the north-end sports complex, a facility that's perhaps the greatest legacy of the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Last night, CAMO's Emilie Heymans of Greenfield Park dove brilliantly to win the gold medal on the 10-metre tower at the Pan American Games. Earlier in the session, teammate Philippe Comtois of Laval, a 22-time national senior and junior champion, was fifth on the 3-metre springboard.

Heymans scored 550.98 points to finish comfortably ahead of Vancouver's Blythe Hartley, who was second with 526.41. Mexico's Maria Alcala was third, far back at 494.43.

Larouche might have seen her performance, or maybe not. Heymans said he's on vacation, and isn't expected back to work until September.

"I was feeling really great tonight and the crowd helped a lot. They gave me a lot of power," the 17-year-old said. "I wasn't nervous, just hyper."

She came into last night's final five dives in third place, but jumped into the lead from the start and never relinquished it. Not that she knew where she stood in the field of 12 from dive to dive - "I wasn't looking at the board," she said. "I didn't want to know."

The only dive that might have derailed her was her next-to-last, a back handstand triple somersault in the tuck position. But she nailed it, earning two 9s from the judges, and ran away from Hartley, also 17. It was the perfect illustration of a mature diver responding to the pressure of competing at home in front of a rabid crowd.

"I've only been doing that dive for a year," Heymans said of the tricky, high-scoring effort. "I can do it really well, or I can screw it up."

Her home pool is devoted both to the development of high-performance athletes and the fitness of Montrealers, but it is in the diving tank that the most obvious success is seen.

It's at Claude Robillard that both Heymans and Comtois have developed into superb talents. But then, so have many others over the years, including 1984 Olympic gold-medalist Sylvie Bernier and Annie Pelletier, a former gymnast who won a bronze in Atlanta.

CAMO has seven of the 12 divers on this season's national senior team and 10 of 12 on the junior squad, all groomed by Larouche and his staff.

The boss arrived in 1985 as an age-group coach, a former national-team diver fresh out of Universite Laval. Two years later, the club won its first Canadian age-group title, and he was promoted to head coach in 1988. "Michel is one of the best coaches in the world," Comtois said. "You can see that every young kid knows they can make the national team."

Heymans, born in Brussels, began diving only six years ago, rising steadily through the age-group ranks and winning three Canadian titles along the way. Her greatest accomplishment before last night was her 1997 world junior championship; Pointe Claire's Anne Montminy is the only other Canadian to have won that crown. "It's such a great place to train," Heymans said of CAMO. "We have so many good people diving there. We all support and push each other."

Comtois's resume lists excellence over many years : Canadian male diver of the year 1995-98; national junior champion 1987-94; national senior champion 1995-99; five international medals; member of teams to the Olympics, World University Games, Goodwill Games, world junior championships and, this week, the Pan Ams. In another month, they'll return to the deck and begin again. No doubt Larouche has plans for them both.

(Toronto)

BEVERLEY SMITH
Sports Reporter,
Friday, July 30, 1999 , Winnipeg

They are youngsters, these female divers from Canada, but already they stand atop the Pan American Games world. Emilie Heymans of Greenfield Park, Que., won the gold medal in the 10-metre platform diving event last night, while teammate Blythe Hartley of Vancouver took the silver.

Both are only 17 and they got to the Pan Am Games by dusting off more experienced competitors, such as Miriam Boileau and Anne Montminy, at the Canadian championships earlier this year.

Heymans actually finished second to Hartley at the qualifying event, but last night she was superb almost from the beginning. Her lead over Hartley began to increase the more often she faced the tower.

Both Heymans and Hartley turned in the most difficult dives of the night, with ratings of 3.2. The only other diver to attempt one that difficult was Erica Sorgi of the United States.

While the Canadian women soared last night, the U.S. women took a major plunge. Sorgi, who was just behind the medalists in the women's three-metre springboard, did an astonishing number of bellyflops. So did her teammate, Kathy Pesek.

Sorgi finally pulled herself back up to seventh, while Pesek was 10th.

Heymans' fourth dive, a back armstand with triple somersaults in the tuck position, got the highest overall score of the night: 83.52. A Cuban judge gave her a 9.5 out of 10.

Marks higher than 9 are as rare as a mosquito-less night in Manitoba. A Brazilian and a Canadian judge each gave Heymans a nine, as well.

Hartley also got nines from the U.S. and Canadian judges.

Heymans, who was born in Belgium, already has worlds of experience. In 1997, she became only the second Canadian female diver to win at the world junior diving championships. She trains with Canada's other young diving star, Alexandre Despatie.

"Overall, I think diving is getting a little bit younger," Hartley said. "Although we don't have the experience of Anne or Miriam, we do have the capability of doing good dives."

Hartley said she expects a tough grind to make the Olympic team because there are five powerful female tower divers in Canada.

"If Anne and Miriam came here, too, they'd be first and second," Hartley said.

As for Heymans, she could say only "I'm happy. I'm feeling really great." The noisy crowd at the Pan Am Pool gave her "a lot of power."

Heymans said her fourth dive was new and she still has a few wrinkles to smooth out. Last night, there didn't seem to be too many wrinkles.

Hartley didn't feel well before the competition and didn't warm up well. She believes the intense heat inside and outside the pool began to get to her.

Her first dive wasn't a winner, but it wasn't a miss, either. Once Hartley began to roll, however, her efforts were silver.

July 30, 1999

By Marvin McDonald
Staff Reporter

Dare-devil aerials drew claps and hoots of approval from the sold-out crowd as the Pan Am Games diving concluded on a winning note for Canada last night at the Pan-Am Pool.

It was a game of one-upmanship, in which each diver seemed to throw out the competitive challenge: Anything you can do I can do better.

Canadian women and men rallied to the challenge and the cheers.

Quebec's Emilie Heymans and Vancouver's Blythe Hartley stole the show on the women's 10-metre tower, while Canadian men didn't medal on the three-metre springboard.

The two 17-year-old acrobats slowly pulled away on each round with Heymans ending with a gold medal score of 550.98 marks. Hartley was second at 526.44 and Mexican's Maria Alcala third at 484.93.

"You could hear the crowd cheering when you were under the water," said Hartley, who was also third in the springboard Wednesday. "You knew you scored well by the noise."

Heymans, who scored a meet-high 83 points on a difficult 3 1/2 back somersault from a back handstand, said the crowd was supportive when she nailed it.

"It's a new dive," Heymans said. "Sometimes I miss it, but I made it at these games."

Ottawa's true voice Friday, July 30, 1999 - By CP, Winnipeg,

Emilie Heymans plans a career as a fashion designer. She already has a golden accessory for her first creation as she led Canada to a 1-2 finish in diving Thursday at the Pan American Games.

Heymans, 17, of Greenfield Park, Que., showed poise and confidence in winning the women's 10-metre platform while Blythe Hartley of Vancouver overcome a horrible first dive to claim the silver medal.

Heymans, who was born in Belgium, had a score of 550.98. Hartley, who won a bronze in the three-metre Wednesday, had 526.44 while Mexico's Maria Alcala won bronze with 494.43.

Although Heymans led the 12-diver competition from the start, she refused to watch the scoreboard.

"I didn't know what was going on," said the recent high-school graduate, who in 1997 joined Anne Montminy as the only Canadian women to win a world junior title. "I thought I was in first place but I wasn't sure. I don't like to think about that during the competition. If I know that I'm not going to dive well."

The Canadian men were shut out of the medals in the two-day Games diving competition. The best the men could do was home-town favourite Jeff Liberty's fourth in the three-metre event. Philippe Comtois of Winnipeg was fifth.

Heymans needed nerves of steel on her fourth of five dives, a triple somersault in a tuck position from a handstand. She nailed the dive, which she calls her most difficult, earning a pair of nines from the judges.

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