The Olympic Games are a place for special stories, unexpected outcomes and heroic efforts.
Diver Krysta Palmer actually can ascribe to meeting all three of these categories at the current Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Palmer qualified for the Olympics at 29 after only taking up diving as a 20-year-old who decided to retire from competitive trampolining to focus on her education at Western Nevada College. What are the realistic chances of someone making that happen? Let alone becoming an Olympic medalist?
That, in itself, made her one of the unique stories in the Games, which were delayed a year by COVID.
After Palmer and diving teammate Alison Gibson placed eighth in the 3-meter synchronized springboard event on the first weekend of the Games, there was little chatter of the Northern Nevada athlete medaling at her first Summer Games. But that didnt dissuade Palmer. She used the break in competition to prepare for her individual event and an unexpected result.
Surely, no one gave her a chance of making the medal stand after she scrambled to qualify for the 3-meter springboard semifinals by placing 14th; only 18 divers advanced. A day later in the semifinals she overcame a slow start in her five-dive allotment to make some noise with her fifth-place finish. But, still, two very tough Chinese divers who won the synchronized event and a Canadian who also medaled earlier stood in her path to achieving a medal in the 12-participant finals.
With no past Olympics to draw from like some of her competitors, Palmer stepped up to the challenge and become heroic. She nailed all of her dives and comfortably earned the bronze medal, missing the silver medal by only 5 points.
It was a memorable moment for the U.S. Olympic Diving Team as Palmer became the first American woman to claim a medal in the 3-meter event since Kelly McCormick in 1988 in Seoul and the first U.S. woman to medal in individual diving since Laura Wilkinson in 2000 in Sydney.
It also was a proud day for Northern Nevada and one that should serve a reminder to younger athletes and not-so-young athletes what is possible with perseverance, hard work, commitment and a desire to succeed.
Palmer attended WNC from spring 2011 through fall 2012 and graduated in May 2014 with an Associate of Arts degree. She made the Deans List in fall 2012. She then transferred to UNR, where she earned a bachelors degree in community health science with a focus in kinesiology.