From Iowa to Worlds

By Dylan Montz, The Gazette

IOWA CITY - Deidre Freeman always hoped to return to Spain someday.

She never expected it to happen this way.

The Grinnell native and former University of Iowa diver will compete for Team USA at the FINA World Aquatic Championships in Barcelona, Spain.

Competition begins Saturday.

The opportunity to compete at the World Championships will give Freeman a chance to return to Spain, a country she studied in for four months while at Iowa in 2009.

“I actually didn't know the World Championships were in Barcelona until this spring,” Freeman said. “I always just thought I would try to get to this meet, but it was like one of those unreachable goals people have and they just don't pursue them as much as they should.

“I told myself this spring that I really wanted to make the team because I wanted to go back to Spain and it worked out.”

In addition to studying in Spain, Freeman also trained with the Spanish national team and its coach, Manolo Gandarias, while in Madrid. Freeman said Gandarias refused to coach her in English, so learning the language and being totally immersed in it was an interesting experience.

“My coach in Spain also taught me a lot of fundamentals about diving that I didn't know how to do because I didn't really have a coach in high school,” Freeman said. “I learned a lot while I was there. My teammates and my coach also opened me up to a lot of different cultural things.”

For the past year, Freeman has been training with Iowa diving coach Todd Waikel, who will be entering his second year with the Hawkeye program.

Even though her days at Iowa are over, Freeman wanted to continue to train in Iowa City and commute more than one hour each way every day.

“I'll never forget the day she came into my office because I had no idea she wanted to continue to train,” Waikel said. “We hit it off right away and part of it is she's just an extremely mature person.”

Waikel has added to Freeman's skill set and taught her how to better control the mental aspect of the sport, Freeman said.

“He's really good at knowing how I'm feeling even if I don't tell him how I feel,” Freeman said. “He knows how to talk to me in practice and he knows what I need mentally to do.

“He also knows what I need to do to be competitive on an international level.”

Freeman is the first Hawkeye diver to compete at the World Championships since Nancilea Underwood Foster in 2007.

“I think it's great to be back on the world stage,” Waikel said.

Freeman is looking forward to the international experience, hoping to improve her skills in attempt to make the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

For now, however, Freeman is keeping things in perspective and looking forward to a return to the country where she lived for four months while in college.

“I guess my main goal is to have fun because as of right now, this is the most elite competition in the world and I'm part of it,” Freeman said.