MILLS READY TO SACRIFICE FOR OLYMPIC DREAM

There’s a downside to the outstanding recent form of Australian springboard synchronized diving team of Esther Qin and Samantha Mills.

Eventually one of the divers will need to relocate if they are going to have a serious crack at an Olympics medal.

And both Mills, from Adelaide, and Qin, from Sydney, are serious about Rio.

“It has been talked about,” Mills said.

“We are both willing to make that sacrifice when it comes. When the time comes, we’ll just have to grit our teeth and do it.

“It’s going to be best for us, to get to the Olympics and get on that podium.”

On Monday Mills and Qin jet off again as part of a small Australian diving team to compete in World Series events in Canada and Mexico.

Mills and Qin won a silver medal at a Grand Prix event in Mexico, before storming to victory at the Australian Open Championships in April, booking their place at this year’s World Championships.

In a sport where most athletes hit their peak as teenagers, 23-year-old Mills could be considered a late bloomer.

She believes it was injury which turned her career around.

“Different training methods are helping, I feel a lot stronger mentally and physically,” she said.

“But having an injury makes you want to dive. I think that’s given me drive, because I’ve pushed through injuries and I’m not going to give up now.

“I feel like I want to train harder, because I’ve beaten the odds. You just never know what’s going to happen with surgery.”

The other elephant in the room for Mills is what does she do with her career as an individual diver if her synchro career continues to blossom.

For a while she did think she would sacrifice her individual career. But she’s changed her mind.

“At one stage I was happy just to be a synchro diver, but after Nationals I thought ‘no, I can do this, I want to be an individual diver as well,” Mills said.

“It’s nice to be on a team, but it’s also nice to succeed by yourself. I don’t want to give it up, because I know I can be a good individual diver.

“I think doing both makes me a better person, too.”

The full Australian team for the two World Series meets is:

• Maddison Keeney - 3m
• Samantha Mills - 3m synchro
• Esther Qin - 3m synchro
• Melissa Wu - 10m & 10m synchro
• Lara Tarvit - 10m & 10 synchro