Former and Current UH Divers Prepare for 2008 Olympics

HOUSTON, TEXAS (July 30, 2008) Former University of Houston divers Yulia Pakhalina and Tania Cagnotto and current Cougar Anastasia Pozdniakova are preparing to represent their home countries at the 2008 Olympics when they begin on Aug. 8 in Beijing.

Pozdniakova and Pakhalina, both natives of Russia, will compete together in the 3-meter synchronized springboard Aug. 10 and Cagnotto will compete for Italy in the 10-meter platform Aug. 20-21. All three divers will also participate in the 3-meter springboard Aug. 15-17.

All three events will take place at the National Aquatics Center on the Olympic Green, and the Olympics are scheduled to air on the NBC family of networks. Pozdniakova was named the Conference USA Diver of the Meet after winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter championship during the 2007 C-USA Swimming and Diving Championships. She was a redshirt this past season and did not compete for the Cougars as she trained for the Olympics. In 2006-07, she was also named the C-USA Diver of the Week four times during the regular season.

Pozdniakova continued the success of her sophomore campaign, winning the 1-meter and 3-meter championships at the NCAA Zone D Meet. She finished second on the 3-meter springboard and fifth in the 1-meter competition at the NCAA meet, earning All-America status.

Pakhalina, an Olympic medal winner, took home bronze in the 3-meter springboard and silver in synchronized diving at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. She also was a gold medalist in synchronized diving in Sydney in 2000.As a Cougar, Pakhalina was a five-time NCAA individual national champion in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard. She also recorded 36 consecutive wins in collegiate competition and was an 11-time C-USA Diver of the Week.


While Cagnotto only competed at Houston for one season, she set a UH and C-USA record by being named C-USA Diver of the Week nine times and swept all three diving events at the 2006 C-USA Championship. She was just the second diver in C-USA history to win all three diving events at one championship meet, joining Pakhalina who accomplished the feat in 2002.

Cougar diving coach Jane Figueiredo will be an assistant coach for the Russian team for the third time, including in 2000 and 2004. She also was an assistant coach for Great Britain in 1996 and competed as a diver in the 1984 Olympics in Portugal.