Boudia Announces His Return at Mackey
9/12/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue alumnus David Boudia officially announced Tuesday at Mackey Arena that he will be returning to the sport of diving.
Boudia chose to announce his decision at his alma mater, where he continues to train under Purdue head diving coach Adam Soldati. After winning two more medals at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Boudia waited a year to evaluate whether he would retire or return to the sport. He was a six-time NCAA champion and three-time Purdue Male Athlete of the Year for the Boilermakers from 2009 to 2011.
"Making this decision allows me to continue to make an impact," Boudia said. "I feel more responsibility now and have to produce. More so getting back in shape, getting the dives back, competing at a high level and then hopefully producing with results."
Boudia stated after the 2016 Olympics that he would take a year off from competition and wait until the fall of 2017 before determining whether to retire or return to training. He also noted he wanted to wait until after the birth of his second child. David and his wife Sonnie welcomed Mila Primm Boudia on August 24.
"I might not be as young as what the prime of diving is supposed to be, but what I think I have over other athletes is the wisdom and experience," Boudia noted. "I feel very healthy right now. It's like riding a bike again. It took six weeks to get back on the bike, but I don't feel like I lost anything."
"We are going to do what we can to set ourselves up to be in a position to perform on the big stage and we're not going to do anything different than we've done before," Soldati said. "We are going to go in every day and work hard and let the results take care of themselves."
"This is a great day for USA Diving and the sport of diving," said USA Diving CEO Lee Johnson. "Having an Olympic champion like David coming back certainly pushes others to strive towards greatness and we are thrilled to have him returning to the pool."
A four-time Olympic medalist and a gold medalist in 2012, Boudia made his Olympic debut at the 2008 Games in Beijing. He won silver in synchronized 10-meter with current Purdue diver Steele Johnson in 2016.
The first of his two-medal performances was the London 2012 Olympic Games, winning gold on 10-meter and bronze in synchronized 10-meter with Nick McCrory. The Rio 2016 Olympic Games saw Boudia produce two more medals, adding an individual 10-meter bronze to the silver he won with Johnson. He finished fifth in synchronized 10-meter with Thomas Finchum and 10th individually on 10-meter in 2008.
Boudia said Tuesday he would focus on training exclusively for the rest of the year and likely not compete again until 2018.
-- Story by Joe Clarke, USA Diving
#BREAKING He's many things believer father husband brother son diver
boiler olympic champion & now he's going 4 4th Olympics #notretiring pic.twitter.com/YPvojTIGux-- Anne Marie Tiernon (@AnneMarieWTHR) September 12, 2017
