Bermuda?s kids who spend their summers diving off bridges, cliffs and docks could be future Olympians.

And Katura Horton Perinchief, the Island?s most successful diver, wants to help them get there.

Now the head diving coach at George Washington University in Washington DC, the 23-year-old Bermudian would willingly give up that job to return home and develop what she sees as an abundance of untapped talent.

But she?s not about to hand in her resignation papers just yet. At least not until she sees some progress in the building of a multi-purpose aquatic centre, the likes of which have been promised for as long as she can remember.

A finalist in the one-metre springboard event here at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, where she also narrowly missed a place in the final of the following night?s three-metre competition, Horton Perinchief has already competed at previous Commonwealth Games (in Manchester) and at the Athens Olympics.

And while she?d love nothing more than to take a crack at another Olympics in Beijing in two years? time, her long-term goal is to return to her homeland to develop a sport which has consumed most of her young life.

?I really enjoy coaching (at Washington University) but you know, I want to be home, I want to coach in Bermuda,? she said.

?I?ve been away for 18 years, in Canada and in the US for the last five years, I?ve never been home. And I would love to promote the sport in Bermuda ... but only if we had a facility, a proper pool.

?The kids jump off the bridges all the time, they do it so naturally, with no training or anything. It?s just raw talent.

?And I think Bermudians would love to pursue this sport if we could just get a pool.?

However, Horton Perinchief isn?t holding her breath.

?I?ve no idea what?s going on. They?ve said that it?s coming time and time again and yet I?m in the States still, and nothing?s happening.

?I?ve been diving for 17 years, they know I?ve been diving for 17 years, and I?ve been representing Bermuda for over four years, and still nothing has come about.?