South Carolina missed its only two attempts.BIG PICTURESo

When I was a young girl starting to dive competitive diving, and later when I joined the Australian diving team, I was subject to bullying.I was 12-years-old and training in a junior program at the Australian Institute of Sport when I experienced one of my first bullying incidents.A teammate had just been dropped and I overheard his mum on pool-deck telling people I should have been kicked out as well. I remember that day so clearly, thinking to myself that Id trained so hard for that opportunity. It was an important lesson for me to make sure I didnt focus on other people, and Ive always had to work on my self-esteem.Diving is a competitive place, and its tough being in a competitive, solo sport. Like I wrote in an earlier column, people can be very different in the pool and out of the pool. It can be a really lonely place being teammates and competitors.A year after the incident mentioned above, I competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne; I was only 13-years-old, and it was the first time I was competing as part of the national team. It was hard socially within the team.I looked up to a lot of the other athletes, but some of them werent inclusive. I was at a young age, and although I think I was fairly mature and always tried to fit in, I felt that some of the other athletes didnt want to accept me.They would make up stories about me and tell not only Diving Australia but also the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra to try to get me into trouble. They secretly moved their seats away from me when we flew overseas for diving trips, so I sat by myself; they went through my computer to look for things to get me into trouble; some would play pranks on me like shutting the spa lid over me while I was in it and holding the lid down, so I couldnt get out when I could barely breathe; and some just generally made negative comments towards me, which made me feel isolated. I struggled being on teams for many years when I was younger.There was some bullying again at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, but it was towards some of the other younger divers. I wasnt OK with it. I had encountered it when I was younger, and its something that Ive always been against. It really annoyed me seeing it again at London because it really affected me when I was younger.Im so glad the team evolved ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, where we were much more tight-knit as a group.It was different this year.Rio was awesome; it was interesting to compare this team to all the other teams Ive been on over the years. It was a really good team in Rio, and I think the age factor might have a lot to do with the different feeling within the team.This year we were all a lot similar in age and all similar in maturity level; maybe in the past the older people were intolerant of the younger teammates. It was a great group, everyone got on really well, and there were never any issues.Despite the bullying Ive encountered within the diving team, there is always a good feeling around the Australian Olympic team and I think we really tried to promote that with the OneTeam hashtag this year.Every time a Games event like the Olympics or Commonwealth Games comes around, you meet new athletes and you get to know them. Its a great feeling and your network of athletes expands whenever you go to events like that. You make friends and feel part of a team and thats what the Olympics are about. Air Force 1 07 Norge . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. Air Force 1 Herre Norge . General manager Jarmo Kekalainen told Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch on Friday that he wants to see Gaboriks contributions go beyond the scoresheet before considering a long-term deal for the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent. http://www.airforce1norge.com/nike-tanjun-norge.html . -- The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top of the Western Conference standings unchanged. Nike Air Force 1 Norge Prisjakt . Nine days before the opening ceremony, organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said Wednesday that Sochi is "fully ready" and will deliver safe, friendly and well-run games that defy the grim reports that have overshadowed preparations. Air Force 1 Hvit Norge . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. AUSTIN, Texas -- Aja Wilson scored a career-best 31 points and had 12 rebounds to help No. 3 South Carolina beat No. 14 Texas 76-67 on Thursday night in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.Wilson scored nine points in the fourth quarter. Kaela Davis added 12 points, and Tyasha Harris had 10 for the Gamecocks (6-0).Kelsey Lang had 15 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks for Texas (2-3), but spent much of the game in foul trouble. Ariel Atkins added 14 points, and Joyner Holmes had 11.Texas led by two points late in the third quarter. But South Carolina finished the period with a 10-2 run, helped along the way by five straight missed free throws by Texas.Wilson, a 6-foot-5 all-America forward, scored 18 points in the first half, two fewer than her previous season best for an entire game.South Carolina shot 17 free throws in the half, 15 more than Texas. Six Longhorns picked up two fouls apiece in the half. Even so, they went to the locker room trailing by only 33-30 after a 3-point basket by McCarty late in the half. That basket represented one edge for the Longhorns during the half. They made three treys, while South Carolina missed its only two attempts.BIG PICTURESouth Carolina: The Gamecoccks are 3-0 against teams ranked in the top 15.dddddddddddd This game was more difficult than the other two, when they beat Ohio State by 12 before crushing Louisville by 24. South Carolina limited McCarty, the Longhorns leading scorer, to seven points, nine fewer than her average. In their previous game, the Gamecocks held Louisville star Asia Durr to seven points fewer than her average.Texas: The Longhorns are 0-3 against teams in the top 15, but they were more competitive this time. They lost at Stanford by 12 and at Mississippi State by 11. Jada Underwood, a reserve wing player for Texas, missed the game against South Carolina because she is under concussion protocol for an injury she suffered in practice. Underwood, a freshman, averages 5.8 points in 12.3 minutes a game.POLL IMPLICATIONSNo. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Connecticut won this week and remain undefeated, so movement by Spouth Carolina is unlikely unless it loses at Duke on Sunday.UP NEXTSouth Carolina is at Duke on Sunday.Texas faces No. 2 Connecticut on Sunday in Uncasville, Connecticut. ' ' '