‘OLD HAND’ MELISSA’S NOT FAZED BY LIGHTS
WHEN you make your Commonwealth Games debut at 13 you learn how to perform in the limelight but Melissa Wu says it’s being put under the spotlight on the Gold Coast that has some divers spooked.
Wu, the youngest athlete in Melbourne in 2006, will join an elite club of Australians who have represented at two home Commonwealth Games when the diving begins at the outdoors venue at Southport in April.
The 25-year-old, on the comeback from stress fractures in her back, bulging discs in her neck and a knee injury, said while she had dived at night under lights, many of her teammates named yesterday to compete on the Gold Coast had not and it has them rattled.
Wu, who relied on a discretionary selection to make her fourth Games team, said it was the cold and wind she would find the most difficult to cope with.
“It’s no secret the Commonwealth Games venue is quite difficult to dive in,” said Wu, who has won synchronised gold at this level but never an individual gold.
While Wu is a “feel” diver, others spot – that is use reference points – with night finals under lights making this tricky.
“I’ve never done it, I’m pretty scared,” said Rio Olympian Brittany O’Brien, slated for the 10m and 10m Synchro events.
Australia’s team for the home Games is 14 strong with Wu, Gold Coaster Domonic Bedggood (2014), James Connor (Delhi 2010), Anabelle Smith (2010, Glasgow 2014), world 1m springboard champion Maddison Keeney (2014), Esther Qin (2014), and Georgia Sheehan (2014) past Commonwealth Games reps.