U.S. Olympic gold medalist David Boudia is ready to plunge headfirst into his third Olympic Games.
Boudia, 27, and Team USA’s diving team will look to maintain the nation’s top world ranking and medal count reign in Rio next month.
Despite winning gold in the men’s individual 10-meter and bronze in the synchronized 10-meter with former partner Nick McCrory at the London 2012 Games, Boudia isn’t satisfied.
He is looking to become the first American male diver since Greg Louganis (1984, 1988) to win the 10-meter title in consecutive Olympiads.
“I want to go into this Olympics and put together the best six dives that I’ve ever done,” Boudia told amNewYork while promoting Smucker’s Uncrustables sandwiches. “Hopefully at the end of that competition, we will hear our national anthem play.”
Boudia wasn’t always comfortable with the idea of the high dive.
“I think if you throw any sane person up on a three-story building, and tell them to do a bunch of flips headfirst, they are going to look at you like were crazy,” said Boudia, who was born in Texas and raised in Indiana.
Preparing for Rio has been a different routine for the standout Purdue alumnus, whose top priority has been caring for his newly-formed family during this cycle of training.
Since London, Boudia married his wife Sonnie, and the couple welcomed daughter Dakoda in 2014.
Being a family man, with plans to have another child, the Zika virus did pose a concern when it came to participating in the Olympics, with Boudia’s family traveling alongside him to Rio.
But he couldn’t be distracted by it.
“If we get distracted by the Zika virus, then we lose sight of our main goals, which are at the Olympic Games,” Boudia said. “We know that we can try [to have another baby] six months after the Olympic Games. We’ll take the right precautions to stay healthy.”
As the diving team prepares to travel to the site of the Games in less than a week, Boudia said he is more fit than ever and excited for his teammates, including new synchro partner Steele Johnson.
“It’s a pretty exciting team,” Boudia said. “I know specifically for me, it’s a contagious fire that you catch from them and it’s inspiring.”
