The Road to Rio - 2016 Olympic Games
The 2016 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! My goal is to be a member of the United States Diving Olympic Team! I want to compete in both the 10 meter platform individual and synchronized events.


This is my team at the National Training Center.
John Wingfield is on the left and Mr. Wong is on the right.

I have been diving since I was 7 years old. I started diving in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Tim O'Brien, the son of Dr. Ron O'Brien is the man who "discovered" me during a summer camp. Dr. O'Brien was Greg Louganis' coach. Even though I don't see him very often, I will never forget the coach who really got me excited about diving -- Evan Linette. Evan was one of the coaches for the Fort Lauderdale Diving Team. Dave Burgering was the head coach. Dave coached the older divers and Evan coached the little kids. Evan use to pick me up from school every day and take me to diving practice. He was like a big brother to me and he believed in me. He always told me I was going to be a great diver one day. I remember when he taught me how to do a back line-up from the 3 meter tower. He would hold my feet so I wouldn't pike over. He always said, "point your toes, ding-dong!" I hope Evan will come to Rio to watch me dive, because I want to show him that I did what he always said I would do.


My dads like to call this picture the "Where's Jordan" picture --
like the "Where's Waldo" pictures...

I went to school at Virginia Shuman Young Elementary School and then I went to Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale. I was on the Pine Crest Diving Team for a little while. My coach at Pine Crest was Janet Gabriel. Janet was amazing at teaching me how to perfect the basics of diving. She taught me how to visualize my dives and improve my form. I learned a lot from Janet.

John Wingfield, the Head Coach at the USA Diving National Training Center spoke with my dad and they decided that the best place for me to train would be at the NTC in Indianapolis, Indiana. We talked to Janet about it, and she agreed that it would be the best place for me to be. My dad and I spoke to Greg Louganis and he agreed. Before we knew it, we were on our way to Indianapolis. We arrived in Indiana in November, 2010. It was a very cold winter. I had never really seen the snow, and boy, did we get a lot of snow. Thankfully, we train at the Natatorium at IUPUI (Indiana University, Purdue University Indianapolis). It is an indoor pool!

The first year I was here, I qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials at the World Synchronized Diving Trials. I was only 12 years old. We finished in 5th place at the USA Diving Senior National Diving Championships in 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

I will be diving at the USA Diving Olympic Team Trials in Seattle, Washington in June, 2012. I am excited to be able to compete at this level and I know it will give me a great experience competing against the best divers in the country.

I will keep everyone posted as I chase my dream...the road is going to be long, but it is the ROAD TO RIO!!!!

 


Greg Louganis is giving me some advice after a dive at the 2012 USA Diving Winter National Championships.

 


Diving synchro 3 meter springboard at the 2011 USA Diving Winter National Championships.


I was born in a small village in the province of Prey Veng, Cambodia.  My birth parents died when I was a baby.  I was placed in an orphanage in Phnom Penh, the Capital of Cambodia, when I was just a year old.



An Orphan No More: The True Story of a Boy - chapter one celebrates the concept that love is love. Rodney has long dreamed of being a parent. Although he is told that he cannot be a parent alone, fate has much more in store. Rodney discovers that a selfless act of protection actually becomes his first step toward fatherhood.
I was born in a small village in the province of Prey Veng, Cambodia.  My birth parents died when I was a baby.  I was placed in an orphanage in Phnom Penh, the Capital of Cambodia, when I was just a year old. I lived in the orphanage until I was two; that is when my dad adopted me.