{"id":25854,"date":"2016-01-27T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T18:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=25854"},"modified":"2016-01-27T12:18:34","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T18:18:34","slug":"olympic-diver-goes-for-a-new-title-ph-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/olympic-diver-goes-for-a-new-title-ph-d\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic diver goes for a new title: Ph.D."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Peter Dawson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nine-time U.S. national diving champion Christina Loukas, 30, always thought preparing for two Olympic games would be the hardest challenge she would ever face.<\/p>\n

Then she went to graduate school. <\/p>\n

\u201cGoing to PT [physical therapy] school is harder than training for the Olympics,\u201d Loukas said. \u201c[The Games] are physical, but it\u2019s only a set six hours of the day. But for PT school you\u2019re there from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., then you go home and have to study from 5 to 11 p.m. It just never ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 11-time NCAA All-American at Indiana University retired immediately after the 2012 Olympic Games \u2013 and decided to pursue a Ph.D. in physical therapy.<\/p>\n

Her inspiration: overuse injuries that led to a torn labrum in her shoulder (that didn\u2019t need surgery), as well as chronic pain in her back and hips. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was so interested with what was going on with my body and why it wouldn\u2019t get better,\u201d Loukas said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until I was going through injuries through my career, where it was like I wanted to be someone who helped athletes to get to that next level [through physical therapy].\u201d<\/p>\n

To get into graduate school, she completed well over the required 100 observational hours with a licensed physical trainer in the DePaul University athletic department.<\/p>\n

During her time there, she also had to retake physics, chemistry, biology and anatomy (complete with a cadaver lab dissection of a cat) because her previous credits had expired while she was training full-time for the 2012 Olympics. <\/p>\n

Her persistence paid off. Next year she expects to earn her doctorate in physical therapy at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. <\/p>\n

Unlike diving, PT school emphasizes working in a group, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re there for your teammates during competitions, but ultimately it comes down to you and your dive and how you finish,\u201d said Christina Kouklakis, one of Loukas\u2019 former Indiana University teammates. \u201cFor her, [PT school] is more of that team thing, which is something we [as divers] are not exactly used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

To ease the transition, Loukas drew on her synchronized diving experience working in perfect unison with a partner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always enjoyed the mentality of that event [synchronized diving] because you\u2019re doing it together,\u201d Loukas said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about communication. Working with patients is kind of the same\u2026you have to build this relationship and trust with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a student, Loukas\u2019 physical abilities have been a blessing and a curse.<\/p>\n

For example, she said she can withstand a lot of pain but knows most of her patients may have a lower threshold. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was competing, you just kind of train through [injuries] and hope it holds up until the end of the competition,\u201d Loukas said. \u201cI guess I don\u2019t know what\u2019s normal and what isn\u2019t in terms of pain tolerance. And that\u2019s something I am going to have to figure out.\u201d<\/p>\n

After they retire, some athletes, such as wrestler Rulon Gardner, a 2000 Olympic gold medalist who ballooned from 287 to 425 pounds and appeared on “The Biggest Loser,” let themselves go. <\/p>\n

Not Loukas.<\/p>\n

Even with her busy class schedule, the 5-foot-4 scholar-athlete tries to works out at least an hour a day. She can still easily execute a set of 15 to 20 pike ups: she hangs by her hands from a pull-up bar and then brings her fingers up to her toes.<\/p>\n

In one-on-one practical exercises in school, her limberness and strength make her an ideal partner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is more of having her being flexible as an athlete,\u201d said classmate Alison Olsen. \u201cIt is easier to learn things on her, because you don\u2019t have to worry about limitations from that standpoint.\u201d <\/p>\n

Within the physical-therapy program, the Deerfield native is known for working well with others.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is just a really social, outgoing person, so I don\u2019t think she has had any trouble with going from an individualized sport to this group thing,\u201d Olsen added. \u201cShe\u2019s also humble. The only time it [her athletic history] ever comes up is when we go out and somebody else brings it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loukas said she is content with this new chapter in her life, though she briefly got a Michael Phelps-type itch to attempt a comeback.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year I tried diving a little bit, and going to PT school, and [thought] maybe I can come back for 2016 and do both,\u201d Loukas said. \u201cBut at the end of the day it just wasn\u2019t worth it to me, because I was ready to move on to the next part of my life.”<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Olympic diver Christina Loukas competes in the women’s 3-meter during a competition. (Jen Lowery\/USA Diving)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Peter Dawson Nine-time U.S. national diving champion Christina Loukas, 30, always thought preparing for two Olympic games would be the hardest challenge she would ever face. Then she went to graduate school. \u201cGoing to PT [physical therapy] school is harder than training for the Olympics,\u201d Loukas said. \u201c[The Games] are physical, but it\u2019s only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":25864,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,243],"tags":[991,992,993],"class_list":["post-25854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-winter-2015","tag-diving","tag-loukas","tag-olympics"],"yoast_head":"\nOlympic diver goes for a new title: Ph.D. - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/olympic-diver-goes-for-a-new-title-ph-d\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Olympic diver goes for a new title: Ph.D. - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Peter Dawson Nine-time U.S. national diving champion Christina Loukas, 30, always thought preparing for two Olympic games would be the hardest challenge she would ever face. 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