The defending dive champ enjoys solving a problem when it comes up.

It’s a practice like any other practice that’s occurred in the past.

Olaf Olson gets on the board, does a one and a half backflip into the water, receives some instruction from Bainbridge Island Diving Club coach Chris Miller, watches the replay on the television, then gets back on the board and does the same thing again.

But there’s no feeling that Olson is just going through the motions of another practice.

He listens intently to Miller’s instruction. He watches the replay attentively. He starts out on the board, then quickly stops and walks back, dissatisfied with his approach.

He works step by step from the tuck position as Miller barks at him to bend where he needs to and keep himself straight when he needs to.

And when it all comes together, as it did on a gorgeous reverse three and a half somersault in the tuck position that makes Miller practically giddy with delight, Olson can still step back and make suggestions on what he could have done better.

“You know you have a good one when you (as a coach) have to do your homework before you come to practice,” Miller said. “Both he and Stephanie (Whalen) pushed me to that level, and that’s when you know you’ve got someone good enough.”

That serious, studious demeanor, not usually found in kids of that age, is what makes him a good co-captain as well, according to BHS swim coach Kaycee Taylor.

“I know if I’m running late, I can say ‘Olaf, get the guys warmed up, do dryland activities’ and he does it,” Taylor said. “They listen to him, they respect that he has something to contribute and what he’s going to have them do is worthwhile.

“A lot of kids look up to him as someone with good leadership.”

That kind of leadership stems partly from his no-nonsense attitude and partly from the seriousness he takes his practices as he has put numerous hours into what makes a dive work.

The constant tinkering and adjusting of his movement also appeals to his analytical side.

“I’m a really mechanical person,” Olson said. “I like critiquing things and figuring things out, and diving definitely plays into that.”

“That’s how I like to do things – take a stab at it, mess up, try it again. I’m pretty relentless and really persistent in trying to figure something out.”

The senior has been working on the many puzzles that make up diving ever since he took up diving classes at the Bainbridge Aquatic Center when he was 11 years old.

Olson quickly developed a love for the sport and dropped the other sports he was playing – namely soccer and baseball – when he started high school.

“I realized I was a little better at it than just about anything else I was doing,” he said.

Olson began attending regional and national meets with the dive club, placing in the top 15 or top 10.

At the U.S. Diving Junior Olympic Region 10 Championships last season, he placed first in the 1-meter and 3-meter board competitions.

He also finished in the top 15 at the U.S. Diving Junior Olympic national championships as well.

Olson has also succeeded at the state level.

He placed sixth as a freshman at the 2004 state meet, then as a sophomore, he took second.

But last season was the culmination of his work, as he won his and the school’s first diving title in history.

The win earned him a NISCA/Speedo All-American selection.

When his prep career is done, he’ll move on to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. and dive for the Midshipmen.

Olson said he chose Navy partly because of his grandfather, who went to Navy and his friend, former BHS athlete Clif McKenzie who currently attends, but partly because he felt he needed to give something back.

“We have a really wealthy community and exceptional schools, and a lot of people just blow that away” and take it for granted, he said.

“I think that someone needs to take responsibility for it (what we have) and if I can give back and help people in a functioning, active way, that would be great.

“You don’t have to join the military to serve people, but I feel like the military is the best option for me. I think my personality fits best with them.”