There was no medal — just a golden experience.

Nunzio Esposto, a 1987 Butler graduate and an 11-time junior nationals diving finalist, participated in his first Olympic Games this summer — as a coach.

Esposto coached one of his collegiate divers — medical student Abby Johnston of Duke — this past weekend in Rio de Janeiro. He has been the diving coach at Duke University since 2013.

“Each coach who had an athlete make the Olympics got to come along and coach his own diver,” Esposto said. “I got to coach Abby throughout the competition and it was a thrill.

“Besides coaching our own athletes, we went around to all of the other (diving) events and supported each other. We know all of the kids.”

Johnston reached the finals of the women’s 3-meter springboard event Sunday and finished 12th. She had to get through the preliminary and semifinal rounds just to reach the finals.

Her score was a 302.85 and Johnston was the highest-placing American in the event.

“Getting to an Olympic final is a major achievement itself,” Esposto said. “That’s a memory that will last a lifetime.”

Johnston has medaled in the Games before. She brought home a silver medal from London in the women’s synchronized 3-meter springboard in 2012.

Esposto also coached Nick McCrory, a 2012 diving bronze medalist.

“I didn’t coach him at the Olympics. I had him leading up to that,” he said.

Esposto said he and the entire diving team got to Rio and the Olympic village four days before athletes from other events arrived. The water in the diving pool was blue at that point.

“We took the team to an area north of the Games to practice for a few days,” Esposto said. “When we got back, the water in the pool was green.

“They told us the color was the result of a chemical imbalance, that they had run out of chemicals to keep the pool blue. We were assured the water was safe and it was. No one ever got ill or showed any signs of sickness from diving into it.”

He did admit to plenty of distractions at the Games.

“There’s just so much going on all the time,” Esposto said. “There are so many different athletes and media members here. Taking a bus to the diving venue wasn’t bad. It took 20 minutes or so.

“Try to take one of the buses to go do something else and it’d take an hour at least, sometimes two. It’s a little tough getting around.”

Esposto has drawn plenty of support from his family back in Butler during his Olympic experience.

“We are all honored and very proud,” his mother, Teresa Esposto, said. “Nunzio has always been interested in diving, ever since he was 11 and tried it at the YMCA.

“I wound up taking him to Pitt to join the aquatics club and it just took off from there.”

Esposto went on to dive for the University of North Carolina and became coach there in 1998. He was inducted into the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.

His mother said she followed the diving team’s efforts on TV, “but it was difficult at times. Sometimes they would show it on tape delay ... It was hard to keep track.

“We’re so happy for him. His girl made the finals in the world’s toughest competition.”

Esposto said his fondest memory of the Olympics will be “seeing the disparity in the athletes, from the tiny gymnasts to the huge basketball players, such a wide range of athletes coming together in one place ... It’s been great just being a small part of that.”

Would he like to return to the Olympics as a coach four years from now?

“I would absolutely love to do it again,” Esposto said. “Besides coaching at Duke, I coach a diving club with younger people. We’ll wait and see. You never know what the future holds.”