Ren Qian wins women’s 10m platform gold at age 15 as Aussie Melissa Wu takes fifth
EVEN at her third Olympics and with an almost 10-year gap on the gold medallist, Melissa Wu feels this is just the beginning of her career rather than the end.
EVEN at her third Olympics and with an almost 10-year age gap on the Chinese gold medallist, Melissa Wu feels this is just the beginning of her career rather than the end.
Wu fell agonisingly short of her maiden individual Olympic medal, placing fifth in the 10m platform final after she messed up her final dive that could have secured her the bronze medal.
The 24-year-old needed to score 85.50 points with her last attempt — a back 2 ½ somersault 1 ½ twist — but she produced her worst effort of the day (65.60 points) and fell to fifth with 368.30 points.
Despite coming close to an Olympic podium Wu feels she is only just scratching the surface of her potential in the sport and has indicated she will continue on to at least the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and potentially the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I think I will definitely continue in diving,” she said.
“I’m not sure how long for yet. We will see another four years.
“It depends on my injuries as to how long I go for, but I’ve been getting better results and finally becoming more consistent in competition, too. So I think for me this just the beginning of finding how to compete and I will become a much better and more consistent competitor.”
China’s 15-year-old Qian Ren claimed gold with 439.25 points, ahead of teammate Yajie Si (419.40) and Canada’s Meaghan Benfeito taking bronze with 389.20 points.
The Chinese were near faultless but it was the presence of Benfeito on the podium that should inspire Wu to keep following her dreams.
Benfeito, 27, is a veteran of the sport and seeing the Canadian excel at the latter stages of her career gives Wu confidence she can keep going despite the production line of teenage Chinese divers
“I think it’s a bit of a curve in diving from what I’ve seen, not just with myself but a lot of other athletes I’m competing with and aspire to be as good as,” Wu said.
“You start off when you’re younger technically you tend to be a bit more inconsistent but then with time and experience you learn how to control your nerves and compete better.
“All of a sudden it clicks and I’ve seen girls older than me who are coming out and putting in these amazing performances and that’s the reason why I want to keep going as well to reach my full potential.”
Originally published as Ren Qian wins women’s 10m platform gold at age 15 as Aussie Melissa Wu takes fifth
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