Young Pandelela Sets Herself Lofty Ambitions

PANDELELA Rinong may be the youngest in the women’s Olympic diving competition but she is aiming high in her maiden appearance.

The 15-year-old, who is also the youngest athlete in the 33-member Malaysian contingent, hopes to put to good use a new dive routine in the 10m platform individual competition on Aug 20 to help her break into the top 18 semi-finals.

No Malaysian diver has qualified for the semi-finals at the Olympics and Bryan Nickson came close to doing so when he finished 19th in the men’s individual 10m platform in Athens four years ago.

Pandelela’s highest routine since she was roped into the senior diving squad one year ago was a two-and-a-half backward somersault.

But the Sarawakian has stepped up to three-and-a-half backward somersault in training in Kunming with the Beijing-bound diving squad one month ago.

The other Malaysian divers in the Beijing Games are Leong Mun Yee, Elizabeth Jimie and Bryan Nickson.

“My coach (Li Lijie) wanted me to move to the higher difficulty. I started to learn the new dive when we were training in China. I’m still not as good as the experienced divers but I have improved a lot compared to when I first started,” said Pandelela.

The 1.48m tall diver felt that she stood a good chance to get into the semi-finals if she could hold her consistency in the preliminary round.

Pandelela has been soaking up the atmosphere at the Athletes Village and just cannot wait for the competition to begin.

“My competition only starts later but I occupy my time by surfing the Internet and watching movies when I’m not training,” she said.

Malaysian Olympian 2008 (Standing In The Eyes Of The World)

Mun Yee’s hoping to be third time lucky in Olympics

Foot for thought: Olympic-bound divers (from left) Leong Mun Yee, Bryan Nickson Lomas, Pandelela Rinong and Elizabeth Jimie looking at some of the Power and Bata footwears after the shoes were presented to the Olympic Council of Malaysia at the OCM Muzium in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. AZMAN GHANI / The Star

PETALING JAYA: Diver Leong Mun Yee is hoping to be third time lucky in the Beijing Olympics next month.

She will be the first Malaysian diver to compete in three consecutive Olympics and will be out to win a place in the semi-finals after two unsuccessful attempts.

Individual events will consist of preliminaries, semi-finals and finals. The 18 divers with the highest scores in the preliminaries will proceed to the semi-finals.

And the top 12 ranked divers from the semi-finals will move into the final.
Malaysia first took part in the diving competition at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and Mun Yee was among the three divers, including Yeoh Ken Nee and Azheem Bahari, who saw action.
She finished 39th in the 3m springboard preliminaries.

In Athens four years later, Mun Yee qualified for the 10m platform and the 3m springboard. She was placed 21st in the 10m platform and 26th in the 3m springboard.

As the most experienced diver in the team of four bound for Beijing, the 24-year-old from Ipoh has undergone more than a month of strenuous training in Kunming, China, in a bid to earn a place in Malaysian diving history.

Besides spending more than five hours a day in the pool, Mun Yee and her team-mates also went through hill-climbing sessions to build up their stamina.

“I will draw on my experience at the two previous Olympics to help me. If I can perform consistently, I have a chance to finish in the top 18 to reach the semi-finals.

“Breaking into the final, however, will be very tough as the world’s best divers are all there,” said Mun Yee, who started out as a swimmer.

She switched to diving at the age of 10 when the Jaya ‘98 programme was launched in 1994 to prepare a team for the 1998 Commonwealth Games, which Malaysia hosted for the first time.
Malaysia did not make a big impact at the Commonwealth Games but it proved to be the springboard to future successes at the international level.

Malaysian divers have not only won medals at Asian and Commonwealth Games levels but are the dominant force in the region.

Her decision to postpone her degree studies to concentrate on earning a third Olympic appearance has paid off but it will probably be her last.

Besides Mun Yee, other Malaysian women divers making their Olympic debut are Elizabeth Jimie and Pandelela Rinong.

Bryan Nickson will return to Olympic stage again after a glorious debut in Athens four years ago.
In Athens, he was the flag-bearer for the Malaysian contingent and just missed out on the semi-finals when he finished 19th in the 10m platform.

Bryan has since gone on to become the first Malaysian diver to qualify for the final in the World Championships in Melbourne last year.

It also made him the first Malaysian to qualify for the Olympics.
Malaysia have five swimmers in the fray but the odds are heavily stacked against them making it into the semi-finals of their respective events.