Nearly 10 years before U.S. diver Krysta Palmer became the first American woman to win Olympic bronze in the individual 3-meter springboard event since 1988, she thought her athletic career was over.
Palmer, 29, participated in gymnastics for seven years and trampoline for eight years until she was 20. A series of injuries, including a torn patellar tendon in her left knee, plus a torn ACL, MCL and LCL in her right knee, forced her to step away from the trampoline. When the Gardnerville, Nevada native met diving coach Jianli You at the University of Nevada through a mutual connection, Palmer decided to give the sport a try.
To say she found success would be an understatement.
“I met my coach up at Reno and she said, ‘Come into my club team, just have fun,’” Palmer said. “So that’s really how my journey began was just come in, have fun and show me what you’ve got. So she really took a lot of my trampoline background that I had and transformed me into the diver that I am today.”
