Olympic diving hopeful recovered from accident last year

LONDON (AP) -- A year ago, the Olympics were the last thing on Monique Gladding's mind. She was just happy to be alive.

The British diver smashed her head while somersaulting from a concrete platform during a synchro tournament in Russia. She plummeted into the pool 10 meters below and disappeared beneath the blood-splattered surface.

She was knocked unconscious and was without a pulse, her teammates and family fearing the worst. Gladding was resuscitated after being dragged to the side of the pool by her husband, Steve Gladding, and teammate Nick Robinson-Baker.

Monique Gladding still hasn't watched footage of the accident, which happened as she came out of a somersault at a World Cup meet near Moscow on Feb. 26, 2011.

These days, Gladding has a scar and still has headaches, but she was able to compete again is now close to her first Olympics.

"I'm trying to focus on moving forward," she said at the test event where diving will be held in London this summer. "And if I watch that, I'd have a visual in my head that I don't think would be constructive."

The 30-year-old diver reached the final of the individual 10-meter platform at the World Cup meet at the Aquatics Center on Tuesday. She has assured Britain one of two quota places in the event for the London Games.

"I'll just go out there with nothing to lose," she said.

Despite recurring migraines, she returned to the high platform two months later. She failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and will have to compete at British Olympic trials in June to secure one of the spots offered the host nation.

"I wouldn't have fought back if I didn't want it to happen," she said.

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