Jana Guy, 4, prepares for her dive off the 1-meter springboard during Georgia Games competition at the Augusta Aquatic Center on Monday. ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER/STAFF

"I can hold my breath and go across the pool underwater," Jana Guy proudly proclaims. "Oh yeah, and I can do a flip."

She most definitely can flip. It's her specialty, in fact, and the reason her mom brought her and her two older brothers from their home three hours away in Pike County, Ga. They're in Augusta for the Georgia Games Championships diving competition.

Jana tips the scales at 35 pounds in a soaking wet swimsuit. She also celebrates her fifth birthday today, which made her the youngest competitor in Monday's event at the Augusta Aquatics Center.

But nothing can frighten her away from making that precipitous climb up the slippery metal ladder. Nothing can stop her from walking the plank to the edge of the 16-foot long springboard, from which her tiny feet teeter on a ledge only 20-inches wide, more than nine feet above the water.

"I learned to dive when I was three," Jana said. "I don't get scared. I like gymnastics, too."

While gymnastics training has helped Jana's diving, the ultimate inspiration seems to come from her big brothers: Jared, 11, and Justin, 10.

"We have a pool at home, and she learned to swim when she was 2, and she has two brothers that talked her into doing all this stuff," said Jana's mother, Dana. "I was never really scared for her or nothing like that. I'm really proud of her."

The Guy family has plenty to be proud about. Mom says young Jana, who enters kindergarten next month, is already a driven and determined athlete.

"When she decides she wants to do something, she sets a goal and goes for it," Dana said. "When she was three, her goal was to go to the bottom of the deep end and touch the bottom. She worked on it hard for a week until she finally touched bottom."

Already having reached this summer's goal of swimming the length of the pool underwater, Jana last weekend tackled her greatest feat to date. She took her first plunge from the 3-meter board at a diving meet in Moultrie, Ga.

"She does a good job," Dana said. "She's brave and tough.'

While Jana may be too young to set Olympic-sized goals, her family believes she is destined for success.

"I don't like nothing but swimming and playing," Jana said. "But I don't want to go to kindergarten because I don't like school."

Reach Rob Mueller at (706) 823-3425.