Alison Gibson of the United States takes part in a diving training session, at the Olympic Aquatics Centre ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — As Alison Gibson steps up to the springboard today during the Paris Olympics 3-meter springboard diving preliminary, she will have a group of supporters in St. Clairsville ready to cheer once she hits the water.

Gibson’s ties to the city stem from her mother, Pat Gibson, a St. Clairsville High School graduate. While Gibson’s mother, father and brother will be in the stands in Paris watching her compete, Gibson still has family members in St. Clairsville cheering her on from home.

Gibson’s local support group includes her grandmother, Ethel Rose Mazzer, aunt Pam Chase and uncle Mike Chase.

The three will eagerly watch as she competes in the women’s 3-meter springboard preliminaries at 9 a.m. today.

If Gibson finishes in the top 18 out of 34 divers competing on Wednesday, she will move on to the semifinals that will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday.

If she makes the top 12 in that round, she will move on to the finals at 9 a.m. Friday.

Gibson’s qualification for the Paris Olympics is one of many impressive entries on her diving resume, which includes representing the U.S. at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the women’s synchronized 3-meter springboard diving.

It is exciting for Gibson’s family to see her compete again in the Paris Olympics, as she came out of retirement from diving to compete in this year’s games.

Mazzer identified her granddaughter’s performance during the Tokyo Olympics as the reason why the 25-year-old retired from the sport for a year and a half following the competition. Gibson and her synchronized diving partner, Krysta Palmer, were projected to medal in the event but finished in eighth place instead.

“She (Gibson) just got upset with herself because she felt that she could do better than they did,” Mazzer said. “Divers have their good and bad days just like everybody else.”

In addition to falling short of expectations in the competition, Pam Chase noted that competing at the Tokyo Olympics under COVID-19 protocols was isolating for the diver. Gibson was also working on completing her master’s degree from the University of Texas at the time, making her previous Olympics run a stressful time for the athlete.

“Alison was working on her master’s, and there was all this post-COVID craziness,” Pam Chase described. “She was just disappointed in her performance that year and decided she was done with diving.”

Though Gibson briefly retired from competitive diving, Mazzer noted that the diver was still coaching the sport. Mazzer said that Gibson’s coaching children at private lessons and diving camps in her hometown of Austin, Texas, along with “staying in shape” at the gym, prepared her to return to the sport.

“It’s a lot of practicing for competitions and everything to even qualify for the Olympics, so she (Gibson) was sitting on the fence for quite a while,” Mazzer said of her granddaughter’s re-entry into the sport. “She would dive occasionally, but she wasn’t training regularly.”

It wasn’t until a phone call from her former synchro partner asking Gibson to return to the sport that Gibson officially decided to return to the springboard. Pam Chase said the pair “hit the ground running” when competing to earn a spot on the 2024 U.S. Olympic Diving Team.

“They (Gibson and Palmer) started winning competitions right away,” Pam Chase said. “Her synchro partner lived in Nevada, so they would travel back and forth to practice. They would practice dives separately and come together to hone it.”

The pair placed second in the Olympic trials, with only the first qualifying team heading to Paris. Though she did not qualify for the synchronized diving event, Gibson was able to clinch her spot in the individual 3-meter diving competition.

Mike Chase noted that Gibson will now serve as a mentor for many of the younger divers on the U.S. Olympic Diving Team. He added that Gibson’s break from the sport also allowed her to approach the competition with a “different attitude.”

“I think the break from diving was good because she was able to sit back, take everything in and get her head back together,” Mike Chase said. “I think that perspective of stepping back and then going back into it is going to make a difference for her. She’s more mature now and has a great head on her shoulders.”

For all three of her St. Clairsville supporters, Gibson’s ability to come out of retirement and compete at the highest level again speaks to her “dedication” both in and out of the pool. Mike Chase recalled a couple of Christmases Gibson spent in St. Clairsville, where she would have to fit in practices at the Wheeling University natatorium.

“There’s a drive inside of her that once she commits to something, she gets it done,” Mike Chase said. “Look at what she’s done at a young age already. The only way you can do that is to have a focus and a drive.”

Pam Chase also said Gibson’s U.S.A. Diving Coach Matt Scoggin, who coached her when she dove at the University of Texas, was another key player in her return to the Olympics. Scoggin was also the coach who first suggested to Gibson’s parents that she try out diving when she was 9 years old.

“She’s got great respect for her coach and has known him for years,” Pam Chase said. “The U.S. Diving Team has this team-first approach, which is great because there are so many moving pieces to competing, from teammates to personal trainers.”

Scoggin also gave Gibson her nickname “Big Al,” which is a nod to her accomplishments in the pool and her outgoing nature on the pool deck.

“That nickname is partly because Alison was like the mayor of the pool when she was young,” Mazzer recalled. “Even before she dived and only swam, she was always walking around the pool deck talking to people.”

According to Pam Chase, the moniker also denotes her “small but mighty” stature. Though Gibson is only 5 feet 3 inches tall, her aunt noted she hits the pool with “power.”

“She only has 3 meters from the board to the pool, so she has to get very high on her jumps to perform triple flips,” Pam Chase noted. “A 3-meter springboard is like a high dive at a normal swimming pool, so she has to be small but mighty and graceful for that jump.”

The three St. Clairsville residents have big hopes for “Big Al” today, noting that her break from the sport excites them about what she can do in Paris.

“We knew she had the potential to make it to Paris, so it all comes down to discipline and how much she was willing to put in, and she is fully committed,” Pam Chase said. “There’s stiff competition, but she’s hit the ground running out of retirement. She’s just very disciplined and ready to go for Paris.”