But in 2008 Jones, a native of Missoula, will make the one trip she's been dreaming of since she began training in the sport 12 years ago - to Beijing, China, as part of the U.S. Olympic team.
“I still think it hasn't set in yet, but it's crazy,” says Jones, who along with teammate Andrea Nott became America's first 2008 Olympians after winning the synchronized duet competition at the U.S. trials in Ohio earlier this month. “It feels amazing.
A resident of Fremont, Calif., Jones, 19, competes as part of the Santa Clara Aquamaids, one of the country's premiere “synchro” clubs. Though she left Montana at age four, her family maintains strong ties to the community with relatives and both of Jones' godparents still living in Missoula.
“I used to go back there every summer,” she says. “It's such a warm little environment and so beautiful. I haven't been able to go back lately because I just haven't had the time, but I would like to get back there and visit everybody soon.”
Jones has indeed been busy. She and Nott won the Swiss Open title this year and placed fourth in two of FINA's World Cup events. Jones was also named the 2006 Synchronized Swimming Athlete of the Year.
“Christina competes all around the globe,” says father Noel, who was selling cars for the DeMarois dealership in Missoula while wife Kathy worked at Lambros Realty when their daughter was born in 1987. “Her passport is kind of full of stamps.”
Perhaps no trip has been as special for Jones as the one to Yokohama, Japan, for the World Cup in September.
The popularity of synchro in Japan dwarfs its stateside fan base, so the entire event played out in front of a packed stadium and was broadcast live on Yokohama television. It was also Jones' birthday.
As Jones appeared on the pool deck, a young Japanese girl called out, “Happy birthday, Christina Jones!” and tossed her a wrapped present from the stands.
The girl's father later explained that Jones had been the girl's idol since she watched the soon-to-be Olympian compete on television. In exchange for the gift, Jones swapped her a U.S. national team swim cap.
“It was amazing to think that this little girl in Japan knew me and had followed my career, knew it was my birthday and wanted to give me something,” Jones says. “It touched my heart that she would do that for me.”
When Jones was younger she says she dabbled in “everything,” athletically - swimming, dance, ice skating, soccer, gymnastics - until she and her mother attended a water show put on by the Santa Clara Aquamaids when she was six years old.
After watching the performance, Jones filled out an application to become part of the club and, after a six week wait, got an audition.
“The upshot was, she passed,” Noel Jones says. “Just before her seventh birthday she became an Aquamaid and she's been swimming ever since.”
After a short vacation for New Year's, Jones will report to Las Vegas in January to begin an intensive 20 months of training for the Olympics.
She says at this point she and Nott have just started the process of drawing up new routines and will first work toward competing in Melbourne, Australia, in March.
The training sessions will likely be 10 hours per day, six days a week, Jones says. That includes normal swimming workouts, pilates, cardio and weight lifting. They'll also work with Vegas-area experts and choreographers on how to move and express themselves in the water.
“On top of that we have normal synchronized swimming practice, which is brutal,” Jones says. “It's just so much repetition for eight hours, it just never stops ... If we want food, we swim to the side of the pool, stuff our faces and go back to it. That's how we live.”
Noel Jones agrees that, at least in America, the grueling nature and athletic requirements of synchro sometimes aren't recognized by the general public.
“It's a tough, tough sport,” he says. “They're constantly thrashing, accidentally kicking each other. It's like three eggbeaters in a bowl all going at once.”
Noel says he found out first hand how difficult it is, taking part in a group called the “Aquapops,” who sometimes put on humorous routines at Aquamaid functions.
“I just bob around like a bar of Ivory Soap,” Noel says. “I don't even try to learn the things these girls can do.”
After the Olympics, Jones says she wants to go to college to study to be a physical therapist. For right now, though, there is no time. Training for the Beijing games will be all-consuming.
As her Olympic debut gets closer and closer, Jones says she's sure her nerves will become a factor, but that she isn't really worried how she'll react.
“I'm sure I'll start to feel more pressure, clearly,” she says, “but I'm one of those people who does better under pressure. I do better when a competition is really close, or when I'm close to reaching a goal. When it gets intense, that's when the animal in me comes out.”
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