Lenzi Remembers When 4 1/2 Somersaults Was a First

Mark Lenzi was surprised to hear that Chinese diver Wu Feilong had accomplished a “first” by completing a 4 1/2 somersault in tuck position to win the 10-meter platform competition at the World University Games this week in Sheffield, England.

He was surprised because Lenzi had seen the same thing accomplished by a Chinese diver in the 1989 Alamo International meet at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

And Lenzi himself had done a 4 1/2 in tuck position, on both the 3-meter and 10-meter boards, about a month later in the ’89 Olympic Festival at Oklahoma City.

“Maybe people forgot because it was done two years ago,” said Lenzi from his Ft. Lauderdale home. “But I don’t know anyone beside me who has done it on both (the 3-meter and 10-meter boards).”

Lenzi’s former coach, Hobie Billingsley, was pushing him to try a 4 1/2 two years ago.

“He told me, ‘You can do it, you can do it,’ ” Lenzi said. “I kept telling him, ‘No I can’t picture it.’ Then, when I saw it done at the Alamo International, I said, ‘He’s right. I can do it.’

“The first one I did was the best one I’ve ever done. I really ripped it because I was so scared. The last somersault seemed to take forever. It was like I was getting lost up there. Time seemed to stand still. I felt like I was going real s-l-o-w.”

Although he blazed a trail through the sky, Lenzi wasn’t in any mood to celebrate.

“I got 4s on the 3-meter,” he said of his Olympic Festival performance. “In the platform, I got 5s in the finals. I had only been doing (the 4 1/2) for two weeks, but I was still pretty embarrassed. So I didn’t do it again for a long time.

“I didn’t have consistency. I could do it well, but I could not do it well every time.”

But six months ago, the 23-year-old Lenzi started working on his 4 1/2 again. “I needed something to spice up my workouts,” he said.

He is hoping to perfect it enough to use it in the National Championships next April.

And beyond that are next summer’s Olympic Games. A 4 1/2 there? Now, that would be a first.