Remember former Minnesota Twins ace starting pitcher Frank Viola? He had some decent years with the New York Mets too. It turns out he’s passed his athletic bloodlines on to his daughter. Brittany Viola will be competing for the United States as an Olympic diver in the 2012 London Games.
In 2008 and 2011, she won the NCAA championship in diving’s ten-meter platform. She was named to the United States diving team for the 2009 World Aquatics Championships 2011 World Aquatics Championships held in Rome and Shanghai, respectively. Viola was named Captain of the U.S. Diving Team for the 2009 event.
Frank is in awe of what Brittany can do on a 33-foot-high platform. “No lie,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “I go up 10 feet to put Christmas lights on and I’m panicking.”
She originally trained in gymnastics, but gave it up to focus on diving. The Olympics begin Friday night with the opening ceremonies. They’ll be a lot of action to watch on multiple channels so you’ll need direct tv Sports to help follow all the action.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Chicago Tribune.com, Fox Sports, MSN, Walter Football and Yardbarker
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