After winning Hawai'i's first diving medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Watson flew into a panic upon realizing that she had almost nothing to wear for the award ceremony.

Before the final dives, Watson traded her U.S.A. emblazoned clothes to an athlete from Poland.

"I wasn't even thinking of medaling," said Watson, who was 17 and a senior at Punahou at the time. "So then, I'm running around because I have no sweatpants. In fact I didn't have my sweat clothes. I couldn't wear the 'Poland' one. I asked somebody nearby to borrow their sweatshirt. If you look at my picture on the (medal) stand, I'm the only one without sweatpants on."

On the final day of diving, Watson performed three difficult dives and won the bronze medal in the three-meter board event with a 145.23 score. California's Sue Gossick won the gold medal with a 150.67 score and Russia's Tamara Pogozheva won silver with a 145.30 score.

"I didn't know what place I was in when I went into the final day," Watson said. "No one told me. I didn't ask. I didn't care. I was still diving. I was just happy to be there."

Among her memories, Watson said athletes received a stipend of 50 cents a day at the Olympics. She considered that a small fortune.

"Friday was pay day and we got $2.50," said Watson, who tried to buy souvenirs with the money. "Boy, let me tell you, I was the first person in line most of the time. I thought it was such a wonderful thing."

However, Watson's health was not so wonderful. She competed the entire Olympics while she was sick with Montezuma's Revenge or a stomach illness. She went to see a doctor, but the medic didn't speak much English and she didn't speak much Spanish.

"I kept saying to myself, I should have studied in my Spanish classes," Watson said. "I kicked myself for that one. When you take Spanish in high school, you'll say I'll never use this. Then oh god, I'm in Mexico."

A day after winning the medal, Watson fainted when she got home, apparently from the sickness and the Olympic stress.

"It just got to me," Watson said. "I don't know how long I was out. When I woke up I was on the bed just kind of looking up."

Watson was originally a gymnast and trampolinist before switching to diving at Punahou where she met diving coach Wally Nakamoto.

Nakamoto noticed Watson's talent and eventually asked her if she wanted to try for the 1968 Olympics. Without much hesitation, O'Sullivan said "yes" and later asked her father, Patrick, to explain what the Olympics was.

His reply: "It was a really big diving meet where lots of people come from everywhere."

The father added the diving mechanics were pretty much the same at the Olympics, but training for the international competition was going to require a lot of time and commitment.

Watson accepted the challenge, but later said she might have reconsidered knowing how much training was required.

"There were times where it was just drudgery," Watson said. "I was at practice six to eight hours a day. My feet were sore. My back was sore. My suit never dried. My hair smelled like chlorine. It was like, 'Aren't we a little obsessive here?' "

At one point, Watson went to her mother, Harriet, to talk about how difficult the training had become. Her mother, worried that her daughter was suffering, told her to quit, but the daughter persevered.

"I had realized that I had gotten to a point of no return," Watson said. "The Olympics were going to happen in 1968 and this was 1967."

In her career, Watson blazed through the amateur ranks, winning the U.S. Junior AAU one-meter board diving championships, the Women's National AAU one-meter title and the U.S. Olympic women's three-meter springboard diving trials.

"She's the only girl who did everything in less than four years," said Nakamoto, 68, who is back coaching Punahou after 30 years as coach at the University of Hawai'i. "No one has ever done that. They take about 10 to 15 years, at least, to become great. She did it in a very, very short time."

Nakamoto called Watson "dedicated, intense and unafraid" and a clutch performer.

"She's a good competitor," Nakamoto said. "Like Tiger Woods, quiet but efficient. She was the coolest thing I've ever saw."

However, Watson's sudden success apparently sparked jealousy among her peers who stole her towels and called her at odd hours in the morning to prevent her from getting a good night's sleep at a national competition. Watson said she just shrugged off the pranks.

"No one prepared me for that," Watson said. "If I was a little older, I would have seen it, and I probably would have responded to it."

Watson said she trained for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, but reconsidered after having a difficult time juggling school, work and training.

Nakamoto said Watson always gave her best effort, and then some.