Background
Foster started out her sporting career as a gymnast at age five, until she was encouraged by her mother to take up diving.
Foster started out her sporting career as a gymnast at age five, until she was encouraged by her mother to take up diving.
At age fourteen, Foster"s worst fear as a diver came true, when her head slammed against the springboard, while flipping and twisting with a reverse two and a half somersault. Despite of a sudden accident, Foster decided to progress her training through high school, until she was admitted to the University of Iowa and subsequently dove for the Iowa Hawkeyes Diving and Swimming Team. While attending the University, Foster became the lone five-time all-American in the school"s swimming and diving history.
She placed second on the springboard at the 2005 National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships, and followed it up with a fourth-place finish by the following year.
Foster also opted to take the Olympic redshirt during the 2003–2004 season, but missed out of her bid for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, when she placed fourth in the trials. In 2006, she graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelor"s degree in international studies.
Foster made her international debut at the 2005 FINA World Diving Championships in Montreal, Canada, where she placed ninth in the women"s 3 m springboard event. She eventually followed her success with a sixth-place finish, and posted a score of 312.70 in the women"s springboard at the FINA World Diving Championships in Melbourne, Australia.
Foster qualified for the women"s springboard at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, by placing second from the United States. Olympic Diving Team Trials in Indianapolis, Indiana.
She was ranked eleventh out of thirty divers in the preliminary rounds, until a much better performance in the semi-finals left Foster in fourth position, posting a score of 338.90. Foster, however, finished only in eighth place in the final by one point ahead of her teammate Christina Loukas, with a score of 316.70, keeping the Americans without an Olympic diving medal for the second consecutive time.
She later became a member of the diving team at the Woodlands Diving Academy in The Woodlands, Texas, where she worked and trained under head coach Ken Armstrong.