As many Bermudians were getting ready for work yesterday morning their country?s name was being written into Olympic history ? and with a splash!

Until two weeks before the Athens Olympics, Katura Horton-Perinchief thought her dream of going to the Summer Games was over but after yesterday ? she is dreaming of going again.

If she makes it to Beijing in 2008 she wants her involvement to be more than the novelty of a black woman on the diving boards ? having become the first of her race to grace the Games in that discipline ? but rather to be there as a serious contender.

Having surveyed the competition as she finished 30th out of 33 in the three-metre springboard preliminaries at the Indoor Pool in the Olympic Aquatic Centre, she is convinced she is not that far off the money.

?I could definitely rise to that level,? she said, alluding to the elite in her field. ?I go to school and I juggle diving with my studies while a lot of them dive full-time but this Olympics was definitely an eye-opener that I?m not out of my league.

?I came in here ranked 33rd out of 34 and I?ve moved up a few places and I can certainly improve on that at the next Olympics. It?s hard to say I will be back but I would definitely like to do this again.?

In fact, the 21-year-old maintained she could have amassed more than the 203.58 points which she received from the seven-member panel of judges had she known her Olympic fate earlier.

?If I was more prepared and in top shape my score would have been a lot better and that?s really reassuring considering I found out two weeks before the Olympics that I was coming.

?But overall I?m really pleased with how I did here.?

Regarding her diving, Horton-Perinchief said her goal was simply ensuring ?I went in on my head?. In 27th position after three of five dives, she missed her fourth dive ? an inward two-and-a-half somersault tuck ? and slipped to 31st place.

?I tried to come back on the last dive (a backward one-and-a-half somersault with one-and-a-half twists) but I didn?t,? said the athlete who fought off flu in the lead-up to her event.

Calm and composed as the first competitor on the springboard, she savoured her landmark debut ? fittingly in the city that gave birth to the modern Games 108 years ago ? fully appreciating the statement she made yesterday.

However, as the cameras ? including NBC and the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) ? focused on her and requested interviews, she expressed the hope that in the near future she would have more Bermudians and more women of her complexion by her side.

?Hopefully there will be more to follow. Hopefully I am opening some doors and that?s a really nice thought,? she said, noting that she and backstroke swimmer Kiera Aitken had shown Bermuda can excel at aquatic sports.

?I think it?s something that?s been noticed and I would like to see more of us out here.?

Her coach Terry Faulkenberry praised his charge?s performance, saying she not only handled her first Olympics well but also the task of being first in order to dive.

Asked about the gap between the world-class divers and Horton-Perinchief, he reasoned it?s not that great and not at all insurmountable.

?She needs some more training in her technique and some strength training but probably more technique than anything else. She has got a long way to go and a lot of potential between where she is now and where she can ultimately be,? he noted.

Proud mother, Ellen Kate Horton ? whose persistence got her daughter to the Olympics ? watched from the stands, video-taping each time her child ripped the water.

?I think Katura did a really good job. She has been a little sick for a couple days but she came back strong and I?m pleased. Now she is 30th on the world stage and that?s not too shabby.

?It?s been a great experience. It was hard getting here but we got here and we?re pleased to have been here,? she said, noting it?s only two years since Horton-Perinchief stepped on to the international scene at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Horton-Perinchief, who graduated from college in May, will now put her talent at the disposal of George Washington University in Washington DC where she starts medical school next week and, while there, give some thought as to how her career in the pool proceeds from here.

Meanwhile, the top 18 divers advanced to today?s semi-final where they will execute four more dives after which the top 12 will be selected for tonight?s final.