June 11, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina assistant diving coach Allison Brennan was named the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Athlete of the Month for May after her performance at the USA Diving Grand Prix, the USOC announced Thursday.

Brennan, a former NCAA Champion and four-time All-American for the Gamecocks, won the gold medal in the three-meter springboard event at the USA Diving Grand Prix on May 9 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., topping a field that included two Olympic medalists. She finished with 358.55 points, winning by 18 points over 2008 Olympic silver medalist Anastasia Pozdniakova of Russia. She also beat four-time Olympic medalist Wu Minxia of China. Brennan sealed the win with 76.85 points on her reverse 1.5 with 2.5 twists in the last round, good for the highest-scoring dive in the finals.

In addition, a photograph of Brennan taken by Heinz Kluetmeier at the meet appeared on pages 8-9 in the “Leading Off” portion of the May 18 issue of Sports Illustrated.

The native of Huntington Beach, Calif., shares the monthly USOC honor with men’s sprinter Tyson Gay, who ran the third-fastest 200-meter race in history (19.58 seconds) at the Reebox Grand Prix on May 30. The USOC Team of the Month honor went to the U.S. Paralympics Sled Hockey team, which won its first World Championship gold medal.