Pandelela wants to ‘clear the air’ on ‘misunderstanding’
KUCHING: National diving queen Dato Pandelela Rinong Pamg is disappointed that certain matters have been misreported in the media lately which led to much speculation and misunderstanding.
The 30-year-old four-time Olympian from Sarawak has decided to come forward clarify these matters on her Facebook page, saying that she felt the need for all relevant parties to view matters in the right perspective.
“I feel I should briefly explain myself to my supporters, fans and sponsors who have been there for me all this time. I am always grateful and extremely thankful to have your love, to celebrate my winnings, and to hold my hand through the difficult times.
“I was met upon my arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport by reporters asking me how I felt. I told them about my disappointment and accepted my defeat with no excuses,” she said.
“When asked what could have affected the team’s performance, I mentioned there are issues, but I could not elaborate on these without first meeting up with the relevant parties to conduct a post-mortem.
“These issues are related to training. However, these issues have been translated into terms like ‘entity’ and ‘third party’, which is very misleading to the public.
“This mis-reporting has caused so much speculation and misunderstanding, and I have spent the days since returning home, meeting up with relevant sectors to explain myself.
“I do not have any other platforms to clear this to the public and, therefore, have decided to make this decision to clear the air once and for all. I hope this matter will finally be put to rest,” added Pandelela.
She explained that athletes train hard on a daily basis just so they could show the result of their hard work at a few important competitions.
“We feel our losses a thousand times stronger than anyone and beat ourselves down for mistakes harder than those hurled at us. But as athletes, we also learn tenacity, the ability to get up and go again and again.
“I still have a lot of fight and passion in me for diving, and I shall pick myself up from this and go again. And when it is time for me to hang up my hat, I shall also do so graciously as how all other athletes before me have,” she said.
Two-time Olympic medalist Pandelela failed to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics after finishing 29th in the women’s 10m platform and finished 12th in the 10m platform synchronised with Nur Dhabitah Sabri at the recently concluded World Aquatics Championship in Doha, Qatar.
In the past week the media has reported on controversial remarks by Malaysia Aquatics secretary Andy Low on the failure and various quarters who have commented on the episode.