TCW talks to ... Laura Wilkinson: an unlikely Olympic champion on fear, failing, and rising to new challenges.(Interview)

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Facts & Faves

Hometown: Houston, Texas

Nickname: LaLa

Major in college: public relations

Authors: Ted Dekker and Randy Alcorn

Food: mangoes

Loves: The Biggest Loser

Appeared on: a Wheaties box

Broken bones: 5 Surgeries: 3 (right foot and both wrists) After Beijing: only God knows

Quote: "Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

--Irish poet Oliver Goldsmith

WHEN MOST PEOPLE THINK OF WORSHIP, they envision joyful music, raised hands, and songs about God's goodness. Laura Wilkinson pictures a pool, a ten-meter platform, and some death-defying dives.

"I've heard worship described as using our gifts to glorify God," says the Olympic platform diver. "So diving to the best of my abilities feels like worship to me."

This worship has earned Laura many accolades, including 19 USA Diving national titles as well as gold medals at the 1998 Goodwill Games, the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and the 2004 World Cup Diving Championships. She's the only woman to win gold for platform diving in all three competitions.

Not bad for someone who's too tall and too old for her sport.

At 5'6", Laura towers over some of her 4'10" competitors. And at 30, she's twice as old as many of these girls. In fact, Laura didn't even begin diving until she was 15. "At this point in my career, I feel I should walk out onto the platform with a cane," she jokes.

But beneath Laura's self-deprecating humor and easy-going personality is a fierce competitor. It's this drive that helped her win Olympic gold at …