WU GETTING BACK ON RIGHT TRACK
FOR most it would have been a career-ending injury.
For Melissa Wu, a painful and persistent mystery back injury is just another challenge.
Wu, 29, sustained the injury while on set for SAS Australia, filmed shortly after she returned from Tokyo with a bronze medal around her neck – her first individual Olympic medal.
It left her grounded, off the boards and unable to flip or tumble.
Wu is still struggling with the pain but through physio, rehab and pilates has managed to work her way back to diving off the 10m platform – though the dives are at a much lower difficulty to those that earned her a spot on the podium in Tokyo.
“At this point I haven’t found the magic cure,” Wu said.
“We are still trying to pinpoint exactly what it is.
“I’m just basically working with what I can do and just playing it by ear, like how much I can push myself and keep moving forward.”
Wu is Australia’s most successful diver – winning her first Commonwealth Games medal in 2006 at just 13 years old.
Two years later she became the youngest Australian diver to compete at an Olympic Games, and the youngest to win a medal – claiming silver in the 10m synchro event. Wu also won gold in the 10m individual platform and just missed the podium, finishing fourth in the synchronised event at the 2019 Commonwealth Games.
At Tokyo, she pulled out one of her career-best performances to claim bronze and her first individual Olympic medal.
She could have easily used the injury as a reason to get out of the game – focus on her other passions such as her clothing label or the family’s gym.
But the chance to build on her outstanding performance in Tokyo is driving her to give her green and gold togs at least one more outing.
“I know it has got a shelf life but I want to do it while I can,” Wu said.
Only thing Wu is missing is a diving partner, which she was on the lookout for as her and the other Australian divers hoping to qualify for the Commonwealth Games in June attended a synchronised training camp in Brisbane this week.