Lessons of life and diving

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, American diver Scott Donie won the silver medal in the 10-meter platform. A year later, he was battling depression and ready to give up the sport.

Donie is the head coach for the NYU men’s and women’s diving teams. His life is peppered with overwhelming successes and heartbreaking disappointment; he is a two-time Olympian, three-time NCAA Division I Champion and eleven-time U. S. National Champion, but he has also seen his life spiral out of control. And he uses these experiences — the highest of highs and lowest of lows — to teach his divers.

Donie’s fall began in 1993. He was competing at the Olympic Festival in San Antonio, a year after winning an Olympic silver medal, when he found himself upside down on a platform 33 feet in the air. And that’s when he lost his nerve.

“I was in first place after six [of 10] dives,” he said. “I was in a handstand, and I remember just breaking down. I asked myself, ‘Why am I doing this? This sport I used to love isn’t fun anymore.’ Forty-five seconds into the handstand I came down, looked at the referee and walked off the platform on live national television.”

His breakdown did not come from anxiety or fear. It came from a realization: “I suddenly didn’t care anymore.”

“I didn’t have a plan; I lost my focus,” he said. “I already achieved my goal of going to the Olympics and had given the best performance of my life.”

After a six-month hiatus from diving, Donie decided to leave his teammates and find a new coach. Three years later, he was competing in the 3-meter springboard finals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He had rallied back from his breakdown, and he finished fourth.

After his Olympic comeback, Donie retired from competitive diving and moved to New York, and it was chance that led him to NYU.

“I needed a place to practice in order to audition for Cirque du Soleil’s ‘O’ show in Las Vegas,” he said. “I was one year out of acting school and hadn’t dove in three years. I called NYU, asking to use their pool. At the time, I didn’t even know NYU had a diving team, but after I practiced there a few times I became friends with [former coach] Todd Kolean.”

When Kolean left his post as head coach in 2000, Donie replaced him as the leader of both the men’s and women’s diving teams.

Since his coaching debut, Donie has led numerous NYU athletes to NCAA All-American titles and holds high aspirations for the future of NYU diving. Ultimately, he hopes to see the men and women on his teams go on to compete on even bigger stages, maybe even the Olympics.

“I think we’re going to get better and better,” he said. “We’ve been able to build a lot of success, and I’m very lucky to have not only great athletes but also great students.”


Catherine Sum is a contributing writer. E-mail her at campus@nyunews.com.