Alison Gibson was getting ready for the final of the women’s 3m springboard at the U.S. Olympic diving trials, but her mind was thinking about something else.  

Months prior, she met Mary Kamau on a plane, and Kamau told her about the organization she started called Missions of Hope International (MOHI), which builds schools and hospitals in Kenya. 

Gibson sponsored a student at the Pangani school through MOHI, but still wanted to do more. And she knew more would be possible if she made the Olympic diving team.

“I'm not even going to lie to you, I was at Olympic trials going into that final for the 3m event and I was like, I have to do this,” Gibson said in a phone interview with NBCOlympics.com. “I have to make the Olympics because if I do, it would give me more of an opportunity and more of a platform to change lives and be a good role model. That means more to me than just about anything.”

Gibson placed eighth in the synchronized springboard event at the Tokyo Olympics. Since then, she’s gone back to school and finished her master’s degree in marketing and advertising, and begun working at a marketing firm, all while keeping up with her training. 

The 25-year-old placed second at the U.S. Olympic trials and will compete in the 3m springboard in Paris. She’s been blogging about her training and time in the Olympic Village, and recently made a post laying out her Olympic mission. She started a personal initiative she’s calling “Impact Beyond Paris,” to try to spread the word about MOHI and get support for all 240 of the Pangani school’s unsponsored students.

Gibson said she ultimately wanted to do more with her Olympic platform.

I recognize people are going to forget my name. They're not going to know I'm an Olympian. So my purpose is, how can I do something right now using the platform I have right now that actually has an impact beyond my time here in Paris and hopefully across generations.

Her goal is to have all students sponsored by the end of the Olympics.

"Even if it's only 10 children that get sponsored," she said, "those are 10 lives that are going to be changed, and that means more to me than just about anything."

Here’s more of what Gibson had to say about her second Olympic experience and how she feels about her upcoming competition.

(This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.)

NBCOlympics.com: How much different is this Olympic experience for you compared to the last one? 

Gibson: It’s crazy. It's a lot different. I don't know if I would say it's different because of COVID. Obviously, this time around we can actually go outside of the (Olympic) Village and stuff. My family is going to be here. My friends are going to be here, which is amazing. It's going to be so cool to have the support here that I didn't have in Tokyo, so I think that those are the obvious things that are going to make it different.

It's a very different environment, but I think, kind of from another perspective, I am so different as a human. I think over the past three years I've grown and changed so much. I've graduated, got my master's degree, got a job, worked for two years. I'm still working. I did the training and working part-time thing.

I think the first time around I was young, we were coming out of COVID, and I was kind of a deer in the headlights. Thinking, wow, this is crazy, exciting, all that stuff. Whereas this time around, I feel like I'm a lot more centered. I'm a lot more grounded in my purpose, my intent, my intentionality. So I think all of those things just have made this Olympics already really special because I feel like I'm here with a different purpose, and I feel a lot more just, like, mature and grounded than I did the first time. 

Are you doing anything to savor this Olympic experience more? Anything that you realized from the last one that you wanted to do different this time around? 

Gibson: I don't know. It's, again, so different than last time. It was in the middle of COVID, so there wasn't much that we could do. But I think this time around, it's really about staying in the moment, staying present, and just trying to be a good role model. Trying to lead my team and the people around me, trying to connect with people, trying to care for people. Like, for example, they make fresh baguettes in the (Olympic) Village every day. The other day I brought a fresh baguette to all the people in the medical room when I went to get my massage. 

I think, for me, it's getting to know the names of all the people working in the (Olympic) Village who are making it possible, right? Like, getting to know the baker. I went to a little post office and got to know the people at the post office and their names. I think those are the little things. They seem so small, but they make such a big difference when you walk into a room and somebody is excited to see you and you know their name and they're working so hard to care for you. I think that's what this Olympics is about. It's about being intentional. Not just in the pool or what I'm doing in my sport, but also with the people around me, thanking them, showing them I care, things like that. 

You mentioned that you've grown as a person over the last three years. Do you feel like that has helped you as a diver?

Gibson: Yeah, I think so, for sure. I think that, again, it helps me stay grounded more. I think in the past I would get more emotional and I would get swayed more by the ups and the downs, and I was more concerned about what other people thought of me. I was more concerned about trying to impress people. And whenever you have those concerns and that weight on your shoulders, it adds up and it's tough, and you put more pressure on yourself than you should have, put all these expectations on your shoulders. I think this time around I'm just trying to remember that it's not about these other people, it's not about what they think about me, it's simply about me going out there and doing what I do every day in practice and having that confidence, that unwavering confidence in myself and my abilities, and leaning into that instead of leaning into trying to control circumstances that I can't control. So I think that's a really big thing. 

I think the last Olympics came and went. If you talk to any Olympian, you'll know this. It's kind of like you go to the Olympics and it's this high, right? It's this emotional time and it's amazing. And then you come home and it's like, people are excited for you, but they're like, O.K., great. You still have to go to work tomorrow, right? You still have to get this worked out for the client. Like, life goes on. And, I think that's what I realized after the last Olympics was it was just like, life. I got home, and it was a great accomplishment, but like, life went on. 

Other than competing here in the next couple days, what are you most looking forward to during your Olympic experience? 

Gibson: I think getting to watch other sports, getting to meet new people. I love meeting people, hearing their stories. I actually just met a track athlete and her and I are both Christians. Our faith is important to us and we were sitting there talking and sharing stories and talking about like our callings and what it looks like to walk and compete and be good role models. It was amazing just meeting her and immediately being able to connect and share our stories, so moments like that kind of just gets me so excited.

I'm actually about to go meet a British diver, and she's also a Christian. We're going to meet and also talk about, like, our faith and what it looks like to compete and walk with purpose through this time. So I think it's really awesome to have the opportunity to talk to a bunch of athletes and get to know them and just find purpose beyond just competing, and recognizing that this is an incredible experience. I'm just trying to soak it up. 

How are you feeling about your competition? 

Gibson: I still have a little bit of time. I'm feeling really good. I keep saying this is a marathon, not a sprint for me, because obviously I have to be here a while before I compete. 

Right now, I'm still in training mode. I'm lifting weights, doing cardio training two times a day. I'm honestly not going to lie to you, I'm exhausted right now. But my coach is really happy and he's giving a lot of cheers at the pool. I've gotten a lot of compliments. Everyone's very complimentary with how I'm training, which makes me feel really good because I'm personally really, really hard on myself. I'm my own worst critic, which is not good sometimes, so it's really good to have people around me, helping me recognize that I am doing well. It makes me feel good going to the competition.

I'm feeling confident, I'm feeling strong, I'm feeling ready to go. I know that I'm doing the work right now, and exhausted right now so that I'll be good. I’ll be stronger than ever when I go to compete and I'm going to be really ready to go. 

That's all the questions I had unless you wanted to add anything else? 

Gibson: I just want to say that it's an incredible experience to be here, and I recognize that it is such a blessing. I think that my main goal beyond competing well is to leave an impact and set a good example for what it looks like to be a good competitor as well as a good person outside of your sport. So, I really hope that I can do that, and I hope that I can truly have an impact beyond Paris, and if that means changing one life or changing 240 lives, or more than that, that's a win to me.

The first round of the women's 3m springboard competition at the Paris Olympics will take place at 9 a.m. ET on August 7. The semifinals will be held at 4 a.m. ET on August 8, and the finals will be on August 9 at 9 a.m. ET.