Owen Finds Life After Retirement -- Diver Goes Beyond Her Wildest Dreams On Road To Barcelona

Ellen Owen's comeback ended almost a year ago.

That's when the Bellevue diver won the 1991 national championship in the 10-meter platform event. Since then, she has dived into uncharted waters - right past comeback and into the depths of disbelief.

Then one day, two weeks ago, she even ran out of goals.

"I'm still trying to change gears," she said.

When Owen, 29, won the 10-meter title at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis June 21, she reached the end of a course she had plotted when she came out of a five-year retirement in October 1990.

Now the former Southeastern Conference champion and All-American at Alabama is the country's best hope to win its first women's platform Olympic gold medal since 1964.

"When I first decided to come back, I figured if I set some good goals and half of them happened, I'd be ecstatic," she said. "Now all of them have happened. I'm amazed."

As amazed as she is to have qualified for her first Olympics, the most amazing part of Owen's unlikely path to Barcelona was the initial leg.

Just 10 months into her comeback after the long layoff, the Louisville, Ky., native surpassed her own greatest hopes by winning the 1991 national championship.

"I'm not so surprised now, after what happened earlier in the comeback," she said. "But it did surprise me it came back as easy as it did - to be able to maintain the focus, to do well at the first competitions. I've felt more and more confident every day."

That's been clear to her coach on the Emerald Diving team, Scott Reich, from the start of her return.

"She's been gaining a lot of confidence," said Reich, who will go to Barcelona as one of four U.S. diving coaches. "And she's been very consistent."

Mostly, Owen has been making consistent improvement.

"Her scores at the Trials would have won the gold medal in 1988," Reich said. "And she did only one of her eight dives like she's capable of doing."

Sounds like it's time for a new set of goals.

Bring on the Chinese. And the divers from the former Soviet Union. They are expected to provide the toughest competition for medals.

"I think she has as good a chance as anybody - maybe better," Reich said.

In fact, maybe even a better chance than she would have had if she had stayed single-minded - if not single - in her life's pursuits.

The former Ellen McGrath said her marriage to Bill Owen last September has taken nothing away from her desire, training time or ability to concentrate on diving.

"It's been all a part of the whole thing," she said. "It's really been good, actually - it's been less stressful to be married than not to be married. I have a home to come to, a husband to come home to, and we have a dog."

More responsibility, maybe. But more stability, too. And fewer distractions.

"It's made me feel like I've got my feet on the ground more," she said. "And my husband's been very supportive."

Bill knew little about diving before her comeback. The couple met after she moved to Bellevue six years ago to take a job with Ford Motor Co.

Even now, he attends her major meets. But mostly he concentrates on work and his graduate business studies at the University of Washington.

"He has his own life, and on the flip side, I have my own life, too," she said. That makes them an oddly compatible couple.

"Our individual schedules have been so busy, it's been good," she said. "He's not sitting at home saying, `Why isn't she home?' And I'm not sitting around saying, `Why's he studying so much?' because I'm not home."

A belated honeymoon in Spain seems just the thing for the Owens.

"People say to me, `Are you happy to be married?' " she said, "And I say, `I can't wait till next year when we'll actually be married.' " -----------------------------

DIVING AT A GLANCE

A preview of the event in Barcelona:

-- Dates: July 26-29, Aug. 1-4. -- Local qualifier: Ellen Owen, Bellevue, in 10-meter springboard. -- Who to watch: Women - Gao Min of China and Irina Lashko of CIS are heavy favorites in springboard. China's Xu Yanmei ('88 gold) and 13-year-old Fu Mingxia ('90 world champ) in platform. Men - China's Xiong Ni ('88 silver) and Sun Shuwei ('91 world champ) in platform. -- 1988 gold medalists: Women's platform - Yanmei Xu, China. Women's springboard - Min Gao, China. Men's platform and springboard - Greg Louganis, U.S. -- Last U.S. gold medal: Men - Louganis. Women - Jennifer Chandler, 1976, springboard. -- Fast fact: Majorie Gestring, 1936 winner, is the youngest U.S. gold medalist at 13.