What should have been an historic celebration for Olympic hopeful Katura Horton-Perinchief and Bermuda is now an agonising wait to see if she will compete at the Summer Games.

The Island's top diver appeared to have qualified for the world's greatest sporting spectacle on Saturday with a 34th-place finish in the three-metre springboard event at the Diving World Cup in Athens, Greece.

However, her joy was quickly transformed to despair after learning that some new, vague regulations mean she may not be going after all.

Her mother and manager, Ellen-Kate Horton, explained this not only jeopardises Katura's chances of representing Bermuda at the Olympics but also - from all she has been told - of becoming the first black woman to ever qualify for Olympic diving.

The confusion surrounds the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to limit for the first time the number of divers at the Olympics to 136 overall. FINA - swimming's world governing body - determined this quota would be split equally between men and women (68 each) and thereafter that would be divided equally between the platform and springboard events (34 each) sections.

The springboard component encompasses individual diving - in which Katura competed - and synchronised diving in which two divers compete as a team. However, though Katura's coach Terry Faulkenberry concedes some meet information indicated the “top 34 girls” would qualify for the Olympics, he said it never clarified the matter.

Thus, many competitors and their camps - including the Bermudians - were under the impression that once a person finished in the top 34 they would be heading back to Athens in six months.

However, a few hours after Katura celebrated her feat she was faced with the grim news that she may be watching the Games on television rather than participating as the 34 springboard spots are to be shared between individual and synchronised divers - with preference being given to the latter category.

“I was upset. It really is deflating because I knew 34 was the magic number and I looked up and saw it and it was like ‘Phew, good, I made it'.

“It was like a big weight lifted off me because I dove really well on the springboard. I missed one dive but other than that I was totally on. I knew I was in there. I was 23rd after round three then I missed a dive and dropped to 31 and ended up 34th.

“Now, it's all a mess but we're still hopeful,” said the 20-year-old recalling her mother and coach breaking the awful truth to her after they were informed at a post-World Cup meeting.

While there's still a possibility of Katura qualifying, Horton noted it's “a real numbers game” which disadvantages smaller countries which have no synchronised divers.

“Since they are getting preference - and you can take up to three people on a synchronised team - it will depend on if they use all their spots or not.

Also, in many cases, the person or persons doing the individual springboard are competing together as the synchro team which means that's two spots which a country will take up instead of four.

“After these countries decide how many persons they are sending, the remaining spots will be filled with those in the individual competition.

“We weren't aware of this and we weren't alone. In the meeting it was clear many people weren't aware of this. People thought if you were (in the) top 34 that was it. You were in,” said Horton about the confusion which ensued after her daughter's five dives.

What's worse is that countries have until June 21 to name their teams which means Katura and others “could be sitting around not knowing (if she is going or not) less than two months before the Games”. That will obviously affect the Bermudian's training programme as she will not know if she is gearing for Olympics or not.

Horton, who began lobbying in her daughter's favour even before she left Greece, plans to get all the relevant sporting bodies on board in an effort to secure Katura's place at the Games.

“Yes, I plan to consult the local Olympic and swimming associations as well as FINA and even the IOC to see what can be done.

“I was so elated when I saw her name. It was great relief and happiness and now this. It's really terrible for small countries who don't have synchronised divers.”

In addition, she noted, there's the prevailing belief from IOC and other officials that Katura would be the first-ever black female diver to appear in Olympic competition; something that would be a source of great personal and national pride.

“I was speaking to a lady from the IOC and this is what I have been led to believe. There have been two (black) men and they were Cuban.

“In our time we have never seen any other blacks but I will try to verify this because it would be great for Bermuda,” said Horton.