PETALING JAYA: Pandelela Rinong will turn 31 on March 2 next year. It’s an age when most divers would be calling it a day or tapering off. Not Pandelela.
She is planning to get off to a roaring start in the new year in a bid to qualify for her fifth straight Olympic Games.
For that, she knows she will have to shape up and step up a gear to face a hectic first two months before her birthday.
She will head to China for a training stint after her Christmas break and prepare for the World Championships in Doha from Feb 2-18. The world meet is important for Pandelela as it is the last qualifier for the Paris Olympic Games.
The Road to Gold athlete has yet to qualify for the Olympics after having missed the mark at a world meet this year. She won bronze in the women’s 10 platform event at the 2012 London Olympics and silver in the women’s 10m platform synchronised event with Cheong Jun Hoong in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“My plan is to focus and qualify for the Olympics next February. I’m currently working on my fitness before the one-week Christmas break,” she said.
“After that, I will fly to China for a training stint in January until the world meet, which is the last qualifier event.”Pandelela struggled in the first part of 2023 but proved that she was not over the hill by winning two bronze medals (10m platform and 10m synchro) at the Asian Games. It was no mean feat considering that the young Chinese were in the fray too.
“The first half of the year was tough on me physically and mentally due to last minute preparation and injury,” she said.
“After that, it got better, and I had some sweet moments, especially at the Asian Games.”
She admitted that she tried new approaches to revive her form and it worked.
“As I’m always struggling with injuries, I tried to get external professional help for my training programme, especially in rehabilitation,” she said.
“Thankfully, with the support from Road to Gold’s team Datuk Stuart (Ramalinggam) and Datuk Nicol (David), things worked out well for me. I was able to end this year with a sense of relief.”
He big regret in diving was having to part ways with former coach Zhang Yukun just before the Tokyo Olympics in 2018. “I was unable to stick with my coach for at least until Tokyo Olympics. That probably was the biggest setback,” said the long-serving athlete.
“But he came back to Malaysia for a short visit last month, and we got to reminisce on our good times together.
“The coaching system has changed but the current coaches are definitely working together as a team.
“The junior coaches have been helping the senior coaching team and vice versa this year because of a lack of coaching staff.
“Even my teammates are looking out for each other, giving guidance and support to juniors.”
Pandelela is also happy to see the rise of male divers and hopes the girls will step up.
“I feel optimistic under the current coaching team. We have more promising male divers now.
“There’s some catching up to do for the female divers, but I believe they are on the right track, especially now that I see the coaches getting divers to be more passionate in diving.”
Does Pandelela, the most experienced diver in the team, believe there is a better future for Malaysian sport?
“I like and respect the Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh. Things have been improving under her leadership. Things that have been stopped are slowly starting up again, like the sports development programme,” said the Sarawakian.
“I look forward to seeing more improvement under her leadership.”
With her age and experience, Pandelela is also working to inspire others.
“I’m currently fulfilling my role as a board member at the Student Volunteer Foundation (Yayasan Sukarelawan Siswa) besides diving,” she said.
Pandelela has indeed become one the country’s most respected role model for the younger generation. And if she can qualify for her fifth Olympics, she will be a guiding light to all others that nothing is impossible if one sets their mind to it.
