Nicky Riordan. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER
'Been there done that' medallist diver's insight into the agony and ecstasy of rejection and glory in international sporting arenas
When distance swimmer Kane Radford qualified for the Rio Olympics but dipped out on selection Nicky Riordan knew precisely how he felt.
She too has been an Olympic qualifier who failed to make the aquatic cut however, unlike Radford, there wasn't a subsequent reprieve.
But while she may have missed out on the 80s' LA and Seoul Olympics her inclusion in the Edinburgh and Auckland Commonwealth Games squads brought bronze medal glory.
At the latter a minuscule 1.14 points out of a possible 470 took her tantalisingly close to gold.
On the cusp of the Rio games who better to chat with than someone with intimate experience of the agony and ecstasy of the international sports arena?
Nicky remains pragmatic about her Auckland podium placing.
"My emotions were mixed, on one hand it was absolute elation, on the other absolute frustration; while the home crowd was going crazy I was thinking `you bloody fool, you lost the gold that was yours to do'. You don't compete to come second or third, but it's not something I beat myself up about, bronze was pretty cool."
It was a bombed reverse two-and-a half-somersault that was her undoing, a feat she'd aced in practise.
Of her Olympic snubs, she didn't take her LA exclusion as hard as Seoul.
"With LA I didn't understand the big picture, 1988 was different, I wasn't in a good place when I lost out there."
For those puzzling to connect the name Riordan with the swag of top flight divers Rotorua's produced* substitute Cooney, Nicky's a Riordan by marriage.
As daughter of long-time PE teacher Val Cooney, it was virtually pre-ordained she'd be a sportswoman par excellence; in her teens she almost became a cricketer but diving won out.
"In an individual sport if you mess up you don't have another person to blame."
She was introduced to the water in Napier.
"Mum took my sister to ballet there, my brother and I went swimming, the coach told Mum 'if all my squad had a heart as big as Nicky's I'd have a squad full of stars' but that I'd never be big enough to be a competitive swimmer."
So diving it was. At 11, she was bouncing off the Blue Baths' high board, competing at national level in her first year.
"I guess diving mixed my love for gymnastics and the water, after kindy I'd hang out in the Girls' High gym while Mum taught, I was always a bit of a risk-taker."
When the Blue Baths closed Nicky's father, Denis Cooney, and her coach joined forces to import a sprung board from the States, installing it at the Rotokawa Motel.
"It was where the sun lovers [nudists] met, as a pre-teen I didn't know where to look."
However being 2 feet [0.6096 metres] deeper than the "unforgiving" Blue Baths, the pool was ideal for budding champions.
Nicky and her brother, also a keen diver, began early morning training at Te Puke High, the only deep water pool in the Bay of Plenty with a 3 metre board.
"We'd train for an hour-and-a-half, be back in time for school."
She's adamant she's not being modest by claiming her brother was the better diver, but shoulder problems forced him off the board.
Throughout her Girls' High years she trained in the Waikato University pool at weekends, her parents' caravan kept in a nearby camping ground.
When leading New Zealand coach, Merv Campbell, decreed her potential wouldn't be reached without daily training in Hamilton's deep water pool, Nicky boarded at Waikato Diocesan.
"I didn't appreciate then how many sacrifices my parents and grandma, Ethel Slow, made for me . . . I come from a pretty humble background, Dad had a septic tank business."
Her time in Hamilton coincided with the city hosting the world diving champs.
"I didn't get UE but did qualify for LA. When I missed selection I was lucky enough to go on overseas tours, a lot of the strongest competion's in the US."
The bank of Mum, Dad and Grandma financed her time with a Long Beach, (California) coach. "Everything was self-funded then."
Nicky became a regular on the Can-Am-Mex (Canada-America-Mexico) circuit, alternating hemisphere summers.
She was in the States when she was selected for Edinburgh; the master of understatement she describes it as "pretty cool".
At Edinburgh she eyeballed royalty. "I had to stop in mid-competition as Princess Di walked in front of me."
Her eventual 5th placing was better than she'd hoped, but on her final night in the games village she sprained an ankle.
"It was party, party time, I slipped."
The injury badly affected her pre-Madrid world champs training.
"My head wasn't in the game, what I probably needed was a good boot up the arse.
"I'd hit rock bottom, came home."
After her Seoul shunning she again "crashed and burned".
Training in Hamilton continued under an imported Chinese coach, she applied to join the police, heard nothing for almost two years, only learning she was accepted while in the Auckland games village.
After spells as a Rotorua postie "peddling up Mt Ngongotaha was hell but kept me fit" and a brief stint in a Hamilton warehouse, the police seemed a stable career choice.
"I trained with a girl who came to the pool in Air Force uniform, I thought `yeah, I'm going to have a job with a uniform, I had relatives in the police, Ministry of Transport."
After six years time out, she's into her second stint as a sworn officer, heading the Road Policing Team with the rank of senior sergeant.
"I'm out of diving now, I'm an old lady, but I've just gone back to swimming, training for the Blue Lake quarter Ironman in December.
"My diving years were hard work, I went into the police knowing it was my life's next chapter."
*Rebecca Ewert was the country's first Olympic diver, competing at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and twice at Commonwealth Games level.
NICKY RIORDAN (nee COONEY)
Born: Rotorua, 1966
Education: Malfroy Primary, Rotorua Intermediate, Girls' High, Waikato Diocesan
Family: Parents Val and Denis Cooney, two sisters, one brother, daughters Stephanie, 18, Hayley, 17
Interests: Family, avid armchair sports critic. "I've played soccer, rugby, cricket."
Swimming. "Detective yarns, yeah, ironical I know."
Major recognitions: Commonwealth Games bronze medal, Commemoration Medal for Service to NZ, Waikato Diocesan Centenary Sportswoman of the Year
Advice to Olympic competitors: "This is just another competition you've trained for, don't let the occasion overtake your focus."
Personal philosophy: "I don't have one."