Commonwealth Games 2022: Melissa Wu overcomes ‘excruciating pain’ to make Diving team for fifth time
Despite battling months of rigorous rehab ‘excruciating pain’ Melissa Wu has been named in her fifth Commonwealth Games team. SEE THE FULL TEAM LIST.
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Melissa Wu has overcome the biggest injury battle of her career to be named in her fifth Commonwealth Games team – alongside a new synchro partner who wasn’t even born when Wu won her first Games medal.
The 30-year-old Olympian sustained a back injury while taking part in reality television show SAS Australia after winning bronze in Tokyo.
It forced her off the diving board and to undergo a range of physio and rehab programs.
Wu said having the chance to represent Australia again at the Commonwealth Games and upcoming World Championships “means so much”.
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“I’ve been in the battle of my life with my body and mind for almost eight months,” Wu shared on social media.
“This has been the most difficult injury I’ve ever dealt with because I physically could not bend forwards or backwards, both essential to executing my dives. I was also in excruciating pain most of the time.
“About a month ago we were finally able to pinpoint that the issue wasn’t my back but my SI joint. I had a wonderful injection of cortisone into the joint and experienced immediate relief from pain and very quickly saw improvement in my functional movement.”
While she sustained the injury on SAS Australia Wu credited the experience with giving her the mental strength to combat the injury.
It also prepared her for another training incident, just before last week’s nationals.
“Just to keep things interesting I hit my head on the platform in training. I think the SAS face smack was good prep for whacking my head into a concrete platform at speed,” she said.
Wu showed she was back in form taking out first place in the 10M women’s synchronised diving, alongside new partner Charli Petrov, at Nationals.
Petrov, 14, is the youngest member of Australia’s diving team. She wasn’t even born when Wu won silver, as a 13-year-old, in the women’s 10m platform at the 2006 Melbourne Games.
Petrov is delighted to make her international debut alongside her idol Wu.
“I remember growing up and watching Mel (Wu) compete at the Commonwealth Games and Olympics – that’s how I got into the sport,” Petrov said.
“I still pinch myself when we’re up there on the tower and I look beside me and see her standing there.
“She makes diving such a fun time and I can’t wait to compete with her again.”
The 14 strong team will compete at the Diving World Championships in Budapest from June 18- July 3 before heading to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games.
TIKTOK BOOM: TWO BROKEN ANKLES CAN’T SHATTER GAMES DREAM
TikTok sensation and Olympic diver Sam Fricker isn’t going to let two broken ankles stop him from ticking Commonwealth Games and World Championships off his bucket list.
Fricker, 20, finished 28th in the 10m platform at his debut Games in Tokyo.
Despite breaking his right ankle twice since the Olympics Fricker has expanded his program to include springboard and synchronised diving – he hopes his training efforts will earn him a spot on the Australian team at this week’s national trials.
Fricker broke the talus bone in his ankle, the first time, not long after returning from the Games while doing a backflip outside of training.
Weeks after it healed he broke the same bone again – this time after falling down some stairs.
“The first break was pretty rough, it took probably two months before it was fully healed,” Fricker said.
“The second time was quicker, it only took a month.
“I couldn’t walk, it was incredibly uncomfortable but it is 100 per cent better now.”
In fact it has healed up so well Fricker has decided to branch out from the 10m platform event, adding the 1m and 3m springboard as well as springboard and platform synchronised diving to his program.
He spends at least 24 hours a week training in Sydney.
More than 1.4 million people have followed Fricker’s journey on TikTok and another 93.4K fans via Instagram.
This week’s nationals will be the first time Fricker has put his extended program on show.
“For the two years before Tokyo I just focused on platform because that was my best opportunity to make that dream,” Fricker said.
“And now that I’ve done that I’ve come back on the springboard and I’m training that full time as well.
“I’m really enjoying the springboard, platform is like my staple event.”
The biggest difference between the two disciplines is that springboard requires the diver to generate their own height.
If selected it will be Fricker’s first time competing at Worlds, to be held in Japan from June 18, and the Commonwealth Games.
“It is always a privilege to represent your country and it comes with such an honour,” he said.
“It would be two more dreams ticked off my bucket list, which would be incredible.”
— Sam Fricker (@SamFricker1) April 7, 2022
Fricker will dive alongside Jaxon Bowhsire in the springboard synchronised event and fellow Olympian Shixin Li off the platform.
“I enjoy the synchronised diving because you have someone you can celebrate with and it makes training easier,” Fricker said.
The nationals run from June 1-4, in Melbourne.
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