ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 17, 1996 TAG: 9611180075
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ACAPULCO, MEXICO
SOURCE: JOSEPH B. FRAZIER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE ALL-MALE WORLD of cliff-diving in Acapulco was breached Saturday when women, too, dived for money.
On dares, for kicks and for prizes, men have been diving from a cliff into a sea-filled chasm here for decades. Until now, women simply watched one of Mexico's great rituals of ``machismo.''
But in the demise of another gender barrier, women went for prize money for the first time Saturday in the world-renowned Acapulco cliff-diving championships.
It was part equal-opportunity, part marketing inspiration. Organizers hoped the presence of female divers would rejuvenate the event after a three-year hiatus.
The money wasn't enormous: $6,000 apiece for the winners of separate men's and women's divisions. But this was mainly about bragging rights. Most of the competitors hoped to boost their marquee value as divers on the amusement-park circuit.
The cliff known as ``La Quebrada'' is no small leap for man or woman.
From atop a tiny platform 87 feet high, the ribbon of sea water below seems light-years away. Divers watch tidal swells fill the chasm, count off a couple of seconds and spring into the air. Two seconds later they hit water that varies from 7 feet to 15 feet deep at a top speed of 65 mph.
On Saturday, six American and Canadian women jumped from the cliffs of this Pacific resort city, 180 miles southwest of Mexico City, into the churning gorge. The 27 men taking part were to compete today.
Heidi Pascoe took first place Saturday on two cleanly executed dives from 68 feet - a forward-double somersault with a half-twist and a flying 11/2 somersault.
``I went up the cliff to do my best, and if the best takes me to the top, so be it,'' said Pascoe, 24, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. ``I bowed my head and prayed. I'm pretty proud of myself.''
The women were following a pioneer named Barbara Winter. In 1977, she performed well in practice rounds at Acapulco but was refused permission to compete against men in the finals.
The men in the Acapulco cliff divers' union, who set the rules for the event, put aside their doubts this year on the advice of producer-promoter Sam Hernandez.
``The local divers were apprehensive at first because they respect women and didn't want to see one hurt,'' said Hernandez, who was the only American to win the annual competition twice during its first incarnation from 1967 to 1993.
But Hernandez said that after canvassing a small cadre of international women professionals, he decided ``it was time to bring it into the 21st century and have women represented.''
On Thursday, competitor Montana Miller took one look and balked. But on Friday the 26-year-old from Harvard, Mass., hit a picture-perfect head-first practice dive from a height of 68 feet.
``Yesterday I couldn't do it, but today I could. I'm so proud of myself I could give myself a big hug,'' Miller said Friday. She went on to finish sixth Saturday.
Olympic diving platforms are about half as high at 10 meters, or 33 feet. Dives at Acapulco are judged on artistry, height and technical difficulty. Women were allowed, but not required, to jump from the top. There are two intermediate heights.
``You have to jump way out to miss hitting the rocks,'' said Miller, who had dived from an 80-foot platform into 9 feet of water but had never taken the plunge from a cliff before the weekend. ``In ladder diving, going forward is the last thing you want to do or you'll miss the tank.''
Raul Garcia was 8 years old when he made his first cliff dive in 1936, at a time when many kids were taking the plunge on a dare. It was a man's world then, and he says he would keep it that way.
``We don't want to lose the mystique,'' said Garcia, 68.
But the new contestants only added to La Quebrada's legend.
American Lucy Streeter, who finished third, was here to cap a career after earning what is thought to be the women's high-diving world record at just over 120 feet in 1985 in Hong Kong.
``It has been a macho thing with guys not wanting to see women go off [the cliff],'' Streeter said, adding that she'll likely retire now. ``And maybe it would look bad. Maybe we would show them up a bit.''
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Becca Webster of San Diego dives from the 65-footby CNBplatform, one of the two intermediate heights women could use in the
competition. The highest is 87 feet. 2. Adele Laurent of Denver
keeps up a cliff-diving tradition by saying a prayer at a shrine of
the Virgin of Guadalupe. color.