When Melissa Wu made her debut at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006 aged just 13. Her diving partner Charli Petrov, 14, wasn’t even born. | phillutton78
“I asked my mum and she said ‘absolutely not’. But it was a definite ‘yes’ in my head. It took a lot of convincing but I finally won, so when I turned eight I started. It was a lot of nagging and it got me through to where I am now.”
They compliment each other in more ways than one. As competitors, their body shape and diving technique make for an excellent synchronised combination, where every moment must be a carbon copy of the other. At the recent FINA World Championships, they finished seventh, so medals beckon in Birmingham.
Wu has been floored by Petrov’s maturity and her approach to dealing with adversity. And with a 14-year-old at her side in and around the Games Village, everything old is new again.“She’s so wise but there is something about being so young, you look at things in such a positive light. Everything is exciting and new, so I take a lot of that from her as well,” Wu said.
With years of experience under her belt, Wu has found ways to deal with adversity during competitions, put a bad dive behind her, and reset for the next time she climbs the stairs to the top of the tower. “For me, it’s just how quick you can bounce back. It’s such a key part of diving. In comps, more often than not you perform a bad dive, it’s not always perfect. But it’s not over until its over and you always try to bounce back in the next round. It’s fine to train for that but it’s a whole new skill to be able to put that into practice in competition.
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