There’s a fine line between success and failure in sport. Particularly in one with such a small margin for error as diving. Australian Commonwealth Games hopeful Melissa Wu found that out the hard way during her 10 metre platform event in Glasgow this morning.
Leading up to Glasgow, Wu had been one of the favourites for the competition. A veteran of the team (and at only 22, no less) she’d previously picked up a silver medal in the Delhi Commonwealth Games four years ago, and had scored bronze at a World Cup meet in the lead up to this year’s event.
One dive later, it was all over.
Her first attempt – a 3 1/2 somersault pike – ended disastrously as her feet clipped the diving platform on the way down, forcing her out of her rotation and into a hard, painful-looking feet first entry into the water.
Yeeeeeiiiiiiikes.
The attempt was ruled a no-dive for which she was awarded zero points, making it nigh on impossible for her to catch up as the competition progressed.
Wu eventually finished 11th out of a field of 12, some one hundred points adrift of eventual Gold Medal winner Meaghan Benefeito of Canada.
It might be hard to come back from a bomb like that. But maybe all she needs is a simple coaching change, and in which case I’d suggest the following two leading candidates.
Photo: Quinn Rooney via Getty Images.
