Wu diving for her dreams
F-Teamer Melissa Wu ready to dive into her next competition.
Funkita F-Teamer and Olympian Melissa Wu is ready to dive into her next competition. After a month-long wait between her gold medal win in the 10m platform event at the 2016 Australian Open Diving Championships in May to when she was officially named in the Australian team in June, Melissa was delighted to get the all-important official phone call.
"I was extremely happy to qualify because all my hard work and commitment has paid off and I'm proud to represent Australia," she says.
Melissa will compete in the 10m women's platform in Rio and has been focusing on her technique and building her strength to ensure she performs at the high standard she expects from herself.
"I've focused a lot on consistency and attention to detail leading up to Rio so that I can perform as many high quality dives in training as possible to be well prepared for competition."
Melissa wears Meso Madness from Luma Nation.
Melissa has always been a record breaker. In 2006 at just 13 years old, Melissa became the youngest diver in Australian history to win a national open title after securing a gold medal in the 10m platform at the Australian Championships. The win earned her a spot on the Australian team competing at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
There, Melissa competed in the synchronised 10m platform with Alexandra Croak and the pair won a silver medal. She also came 5th in the individual event.
After taking home another silver medal for the synchronised 10m platform event at the 2007 World Championships, Melissa competed at Beijing 2008. There, she and Briony Cole won silver in the synchronised 10m platform event. In the individual 10m platform event, Melissa came 6th.
After moving away from home at just 17-years-old to live and train in Sydney, where she is still based, Melissa and Alexandra teamed up again for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. This time they won a gold medal for the synchronised 10m platform, and Melissa took home a silver for the individual event. Fast forward to London 2012 where Melissa once again put on the green and gold and dove for Australia. She came fourth in the individual 10m platform.
Melissa wears Tiptonic and Wild Fire from Luma Nation.
Melissa's journey toward Rio hasn't been completely trouble-free, the 24-year-old has had to manage multiple injuries along the way.
"I've had a few injuries that I've had to manage for the past few years and every now and again they get worse because of all the training and competitions I do. When this happens, I have to pull back a bit or change the way that I'm training so I give the injuries time to recover."
For a hard-worker like Melissa, that isn't always the easiest task.
"It can be really frustrating having to pull back because of injuries and it's very easy for them to have a negative impact mentally, but I've had lots of experience managing injuries now, and over the years I've learnt how to be strong, stay positive and motivated during these times."
Melissa wears Wild Fire from Luma Nation.
The Wu family is very sport-orientated and Melissa isn't the only Australian representative member. Both of her younger siblings, Joshua and Madeline, represented Australia at the 2016 IWF World Junior Weightlifting Championships in Georgia.
"My biggest inspiration are my brother and sister. I've watched them both overcome so many challenges to be able to train and compete. They work so hard and it's so inspiring to watch them achieve so much every day."
We are looking forward to seeing Melissa's steely look of determination as she walks up to the edge of the 10m platform in Rio.
Melissa wears Meso Madness from Luma Nation.