Canadian divers get bronze: Jennifer Abel’s Olympic dream followed a canine nightmare

Sun, Jul 29, 2012, 2:44 p.m.

The "white couch" may well be the place where Olympic secrets are let out. Maybe not earth-shattering, gigantic secrets, but secrets nonetheless.

Such was the case when Canada's first medallists of the 2012 Olympics, Emilie Heymans and Jennifer Abel took up their positions on the couch, a short time after they took up their bronze medal positions on the podium.

In a corner of the Canadian Olympic broadcast consortium's main studio, is an area that has the feel of one of those IKEA staging areas. You know, the place where they throw together a room made up of all the items you can get, fully boxed, in their warehouse.

A blocky, low slung shelf, flat screen TV (although, unlike IKEA, the screen actually works), nondescript area rug, what may or may not be real apples in a bowl on a big round frosty-topped coffee table and, most importantly, a chrome and white leather loveseat.

As host James Duthie proclaimed, Heymans and Abel were the first to get to sit on the white couch, which may or may not be reserved solely for medal winners. We'll see.

The white couch interview, conducted by Jennifer Hedger, brought us the usual post-medal platitudes and comments, but also a little more.

Not only are Heymans and Abel pretty well in synch in the world of diving, suffice to say that if there was such a thing as synchronized giggling, the ladies would be on the white couch talking about a gold medal, instead.

In the "here's something you didn't know" category, Abel admitted that she didn't sleep well the night before the event and not because of jitters.

"I dreamed that my dog tried to attack my mom," Abel told CTV, adding that she woke up crying.

"So I had to kill him," she said of the dog. Because of that, she finished the night restlessly. Still, not fully refreshed, she was good for her first Olympic medal.

Heymans, of course, became the first Canadian to win medals in four consecutive Olympic Games, the first in the world to win four consecutive Olympic diving medals.

We also got a great reaction to a replay of their final dive, which was not exactly their best, but good enough to ensure they reached the podium. In the replay, Heymans' mom is seen grudgingly clapping, with a look that showed she knew the girls were a little off.

"She didn't seem like she felt it was a really good dive," giggled Heymans. "I think she wasn't sure."

Heymans admitted what was fairly well assumed already, that this was to be her final Olympics.

Before she can call it quits on a stellar career, however, Heymans will take on Abel in the individual springboard event on Friday. Will they both appear on the white couch again? If they do, that'll mean one of them has a nicer medal than the other, won't it it? And, perhaps, a story about a restless night's sleep.

More London Olympics content on Yahoo! Canada Sports:
• Mary Spencer gets a break
• Photos: Day one of Canada at the Olympics
• Video: Despatie says he's lucky to be in London
• Canada's women's eight rows strongly into Olympic final