U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL LOS ANGELES 1991 : DIVING : The Legacy of Louganis Is Alive in Lenzi

Mark Lenzi climbed onto the three-meter springboard at the USC McDonald’s Olympic Swim Stadium Thursday and got the chills. His shivers weren’t caused by the unusually cool midday wind or the excitement of competing in the Olympic Festival, however.

“It was such a big thrill being on this board at this pool that I was tingling all over,” Lenzi said after finishing second in the springboard preliminaries with 587.85 points. “I mean, this is where it all started for me.”

That’s a strange thing for Lenzi to say, considering he had never been in this pool until the first practice session Wednesday. Seven years ago, though, Lenzi was working as a lifeguard at a pool in his hometown of Fredericksburg, Va., when he decided to bring a television set along so he could watch the 1984 Olympic Games.

After seeing the grace and mastery of Greg Louganis, he decided to become a diver. The snap decision was the easy part. Lenzi, an accomplished high school wrestler who was well on his way to earning a college scholarship, had to convince the skeptics. And there were a lot of them.

“Everybody thought I was nuts,” he said. “There wasn’t a diving team within 50 miles of my home, and the people in Fredericksburg didn’t even know what diving was. My dad fought me tooth and nail over it. He couldn’t believe I’d give up a college scholarship. I even had to leave the house for about a month over it.”

Lenzi, then a junior in high school, said he used to cry himself to sleep at night, praying that he would get the chance to prove he could become a world-class diver.

“I never gave in because I always believed I could do it,” he said.

A year later, a local high school swimming coach directed Lenzi to a diving program in Washington, and he was “discovered” at his first meet by Paul Lenihan, an Eastern Airlines pilot and former collegiate diver at Indiana. Lenihan called Indiana Coach Hobie Billingsley.

“He told me he found a kid that had no idea what he was doing, but he had a lot of power and could spin like a top,” said Billingsley, who retired as coach at Indiana two years ago and is judging at the Festival. “Turns out it was like going to California in 1849 and finding a gold nugget.”

Billingsley gave Lenzi a full scholarship, but the first time he saw him dive in practice, he wondered if he had made a good choice.

“He stood on the board like a sumo wrestler,” Billingsley said. “And he was a (wise guy) with a mind of his own, too. One day, I finally screamed, “Just go with me and I’ll take you to the moon.’ ”

Lenzi, now 23, exploded onto the scene in 1989 by winning the one-meter competition at the 1989 FINA World Cup, his first international competition.

“I put my arms around him after he won that title and whispered, ‘Welcome to the moon, kid,’ ” Billingsley said.

Lenzi won the one-meter NCAA titles in 1989 and ’90 at Indiana. This year, he won the three-meter events at the FINA World Cup and the U.S. Indoor Nationals, where he set a record for points on a single dive when he scored 101.85 on a reverse 3 1/2 tuck.

None of those accomplishments was as exciting for Lenzi as the two times he competed against Louganis, however.

“I dove against him twice before he retired and he was a first-class champion to be around,” Lenzi said.

Lenzi’s potential appears to be unlimited. “He still isn’t even close to what he can do,” Billingsley said. “Not even close.”

Patrick Jeffrey of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., was the top qualifier in the springboard preliminaries with 608.85 points. Courtney Nelson of Concord, Calif., was the top women’s platform qualifier with 385.77.

The top 12 in each event will advance to Saturday’s finals. Preliminary scores are used only to determine finalists. All 12 divers start even in the finals.