TOKYO – Purdue alumnus Brandon Loschiavo was a finalist in 10-meter diving in his Olympic debut, placing 11th, 10th and 11th in the three stages of competition over 24 hours at the Olympic Games.
As the reigning champion from this year's U.S. Olympic Team Trials, NCAA Championships and Big Ten Championships, Loschiavo represented Team USA well by advancing to the final among a field of 29 divers. He placed 11th in the final after advancing with an 11th-place showing in the prelim and 10th-place finish in the semifinal. List scores reset after each round and the top 12 divers advanced to the final.
Team USA's Jordan Windle was also a finalist, placing ninth.
Loschiavo posted list scores of 403.85 (prelim), 409.75 (semifinal) and 383.65 (final). His top scoring diving of the competition was an 81.6 on a reverse 3 ½ in round 4 of the prelim.
Loschiavo joined Purdue track & field's Chukwuebuka Enekwechi (shot put, Nigeria) and Devynne Charlton (100-meter hurdles, The Bahamas) as Boilermakers to be individual finalists at the Olympics Games this year. Annie Drews and USA Volleyball also plays in the gold medal match Sunday vs. Brazil.
PURDUE SWIM-DIVE AT 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES
• Nikola Aćin, Serbia – 4x100 Freestyle Relay
...5th in Heat 1, 10th Overall in Prelims; Serbian National Record Time of 3:13.71
• Tyler Downs, USA – 3-Meter Diving
...23rd in Prelims (List Score: 348.70)
• Brandon Loschiavo, USA – 10-Meter Diving
...11th in Prelims (List Score: 403.85), 10th in Semifinal (409.75), 11th in Final (383.65)
• Jinq En Phee, Malaysia – 100- & 200-Meter Breaststroke
...100 Breast: 2nd in Heat 2, 29th Overall in Prelims; Malaysian National Record Time of 1:08.40
...200 Breast: 8th in Heat 1, 31st Overall in Prelims (2:32.57)
"It wasn't exactly the finish I wanted but it was a finish," Loschiavo said. "To run through the journey itself was an honor. I think you figure out it's more of a marathon than a sprint, especially if you're diving individual. You wait 19 days to get to your actual competition. You have to remember to conserve energy, and I think that's something that at least I learned was maybe I ran a little too fast at the start and maybe got a little burnt out at the end. It was a great experience and I'm just grateful for everyone that was fighting the good fight alongside me.
"It's just cool to see everyone who has worked so hard. The past five years were hard – more specifically the last year of being shut down and then really trying to push that final year in the quad. I think we all kind of did it together with the World Cup and other meets like NCAAs or Trials. Everyone fought really hard, and I was just honored to be here with a great group."
This year marked the fourth consecutive Olympics that a Boilermaker represented Team USA on 10-meter. Loschiavo also competed for USA Diving at the 2017 and 2019 FINA World Championships.
"The program itself – not just Adam [Soldati] – but the support staff, and then obviously the teammates, were a huge goal for me," Loschiavo said about his experience at Purdue. "I think Adam's goal is to build you as a person – build your character as much as possible outside of the pool, and then coming into the pool, you're more mature and you know how to handle things. So the highs and lows have been very, very peaceful, I guess to say, just because Adam has been able to guide me through every scenario very well. I owe everything to Purdue and they've done a phenomenal job with my academics and my collegiate career so, I owe them the world.
"My sports psychologist, Brad Fuller, kind of changed the game for me. My junior year at NCAAs, I kind of fell apart. I got 19th; I didn't even qualify for one of the finals. And so I was just kind of a headcase, I didn't know what to do. I knew how to dive, I just didn't know how to guide my mind into the right spot. Brad was able to change my perspective and really mold my mind to where it is now. Without him, it wouldn't be the same. I owe him quite a bit."
As the reigning champion from this year's U.S. Olympic Team Trials, NCAA Championships and Big Ten Championships, Loschiavo represented Team USA well by advancing to the final among a field of 29 divers. He placed 11th in the final after advancing with an 11th-place showing in the prelim and 10th-place finish in the semifinal. List scores reset after each round and the top 12 divers advanced to the final.
Team USA's Jordan Windle was also a finalist, placing ninth.
Loschiavo posted list scores of 403.85 (prelim), 409.75 (semifinal) and 383.65 (final). His top scoring diving of the competition was an 81.6 on a reverse 3 ½ in round 4 of the prelim.
Loschiavo joined Purdue track & field's Chukwuebuka Enekwechi (shot put, Nigeria) and Devynne Charlton (100-meter hurdles, The Bahamas) as Boilermakers to be individual finalists at the Olympics Games this year. Annie Drews and USA Volleyball also plays in the gold medal match Sunday vs. Brazil.
PURDUE SWIM-DIVE AT 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES
• Nikola Aćin, Serbia – 4x100 Freestyle Relay
...5th in Heat 1, 10th Overall in Prelims; Serbian National Record Time of 3:13.71
• Tyler Downs, USA – 3-Meter Diving
...23rd in Prelims (List Score: 348.70)
• Brandon Loschiavo, USA – 10-Meter Diving
...11th in Prelims (List Score: 403.85), 10th in Semifinal (409.75), 11th in Final (383.65)
• Jinq En Phee, Malaysia – 100- & 200-Meter Breaststroke
...100 Breast: 2nd in Heat 2, 29th Overall in Prelims; Malaysian National Record Time of 1:08.40
...200 Breast: 8th in Heat 1, 31st Overall in Prelims (2:32.57)
"It wasn't exactly the finish I wanted but it was a finish," Loschiavo said. "To run through the journey itself was an honor. I think you figure out it's more of a marathon than a sprint, especially if you're diving individual. You wait 19 days to get to your actual competition. You have to remember to conserve energy, and I think that's something that at least I learned was maybe I ran a little too fast at the start and maybe got a little burnt out at the end. It was a great experience and I'm just grateful for everyone that was fighting the good fight alongside me.
"It's just cool to see everyone who has worked so hard. The past five years were hard – more specifically the last year of being shut down and then really trying to push that final year in the quad. I think we all kind of did it together with the World Cup and other meets like NCAAs or Trials. Everyone fought really hard, and I was just honored to be here with a great group."
This year marked the fourth consecutive Olympics that a Boilermaker represented Team USA on 10-meter. Loschiavo also competed for USA Diving at the 2017 and 2019 FINA World Championships.
"The program itself – not just Adam [Soldati] – but the support staff, and then obviously the teammates, were a huge goal for me," Loschiavo said about his experience at Purdue. "I think Adam's goal is to build you as a person – build your character as much as possible outside of the pool, and then coming into the pool, you're more mature and you know how to handle things. So the highs and lows have been very, very peaceful, I guess to say, just because Adam has been able to guide me through every scenario very well. I owe everything to Purdue and they've done a phenomenal job with my academics and my collegiate career so, I owe them the world.
"My sports psychologist, Brad Fuller, kind of changed the game for me. My junior year at NCAAs, I kind of fell apart. I got 19th; I didn't even qualify for one of the finals. And so I was just kind of a headcase, I didn't know what to do. I knew how to dive, I just didn't know how to guide my mind into the right spot. Brad was able to change my perspective and really mold my mind to where it is now. Without him, it wouldn't be the same. I owe him quite a bit."