http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/athens/swimming/2004-06-10-dumais_x.htm
Posted 6/10/2004 10:03 PM Updated 6/11/2004 1:04 PM
Disease diagnosis doesn't deter diver
By Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY
ST. PETERS, Mo. - Justin Dumais was just so tired. Seven months ago, he
hardly could muster the energy for a shower, let alone for the 10-meter
dives he had been practicing more than half his life. Justin Dumais, left,
and his brother Troy compete during the 2004 Olympic Team Diving
Trials. Photo By James A. Finley, AP
Initially, he thought he was overtraining. After two weeks, he went to his
doctor, who detected a high white-blood-cell count and sent him to a
specialist. The diagnosis: Graves' disease, which causes overproduction of
thyroid hormone.
Dumais, headed to the Athens Olympics in August after winning the
3-meter synchronized event at this week's U.S. trials, was perplexed.
The disease most often strikes middle-aged women. "A 25-year-old male
elite athlete is about as far from the stereotypical Graves patient as you
can get," he says.
Now, he has his doctors baffled. He began taking medication in February
but continued doing his own research. He found a nutritionist who
suggested he cut aspartame, an artificial sweetener found in products such
as diet soda, from his diet. In mid-March, he quit diet soda and his
medication.
Now, Dumais feels so much better, he questions whether he really has
Graves' disease, which has no known cure.
He returned to the 10-meter board two weeks ago and will compete in the
individual platform finals Saturday .
This isn't the tough part, he says. That came in January, when he and
his synchro partner, his brother Troy, had to do well enough at a World
Cup to earn the USA an Olympic spot in the event.
"If Troy and I weren't there, chances are we weren't going to bring
back the spot, and that was our event," Justin says.
The Dumais brothers, who are from Ventura, Calif., and train in The
Woodlands, Texas, have won the last three national titles in 3-meter
synchro. They are considered the USA's best chance for a diving medal in
Athens.
Before the critical World Cup, they decided to trim the difficulty of
their dives because of Justin's condition. Going into their final dive,
they were behind and had to improvise with moves they hadn't tried in a
long time.
"We had to fake it," Justin says. "That was a true competitive moment
because we were down going into the last dive, and we knew we needed it.
We said, 'All right, this is the Olympics, right now.' And we wound up
doing
the best dive of the competition."
They finished fourth at the World Cup, high enough to earn the spot.
Over the last seven months, Justin and Troy haven't trained together very
much. Neither considered it a handicap. Troy, a 2000 Olympian, continued
training for the individual events. He leads the men's springboard going
into tonight's finals.
"I have to do my dives, and I have to believe that he's going to be
ready when the time comes," Troy says.
Justin was ready this week. The duo won the 3-meter synchro event by
such a wide margin they didn't need their final dive for a winning point
total.
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from article by Paul Newberry, AP reporter, at end of this post:
"Justin had to overcome a debilitating thyroid condition that struck in
December, causing him to lose 15 pounds and making it difficult just
getting out of bed.
The condition was initially diagnosed as Graves disease, a serious
illness that also struck Olympic track star Gail Devers and would have
prevented Justin from joining the military.
But a change in diet cured the symptoms quicker than expected, so the
doctors are still trying to determine what went wrong. The illness also
had an unexpected benefit, bringing the brothers closer together.
"We've had to learn to trust each other the last couple of months
because I haven't been there physically," Justin said."
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