Kathy (Rollo) Seaman

Athlete (2023)

Diving

Kathy Rollo's story is the power of tower.

When she was at the height of her career as a diver in the late 1960s and early '70s, Saskatoon didn't have a pool with a 10- metre platform. In order to train on tower, Kathy travelled often to Winnipeg and Edmonton.

Winnipeg is where she made her debut in international diving. At 15 years old, she finished fourth on tower in the 1967 Pan-American Gaines.

Kathy Rollo started diving when she was 11. She joined the Saskatoon Y-Optimist Club and was schooled in the basics of twists and turns by Lawrence Smuk. Falling with style, they call it. Ross Hetherington, the diving coach at the University of Saskatchewan, invited Kathy to train in the pool on campus.

Within two years she was a provincial champion.

Hetherington moved to Vancouver. Kathy followed. She lived in B.C. in Grade 9 and 10, then returned to Saskatoon for Grade 11 and 12 at Aden Bowman Collegiate. Among the medals she added to her collection were two silvers from the 1969 Canada Games in Halifax.

As a nursing student at the University of Saskatchewan and coached by Tony Schidlo, she won the Western Canadian intercollegiate title on the three-metre board in 1970, then the one and three-metre titles in 1971. At the Canadian university championships, she won six springboard gold in three years.

She competed on tower at the United States open championships and on tours with the Canadian team in Russia and Czechoslovakia. She finished fourth in tower at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland and eighth in tower at the World University Gaines in Italy. At the 1972 Olympics in Germany, Kathy moved up seven places with her final two dives in the preliminary round to advance to the tower final. She finished ninth.

That's half of her story.

As a diving judge, official or technical delegate, Kathy (Rollo) Seaman has gone to five World University Games, eight Commonwealth Games, nine Olympics, 10 Pan-American Games and 15 world championships.