PETALING JAYA: National diver Bertrand Rhodict’s (pic) Olympic debut journey is still fresh on his mind, but the young diver is taking valuable lessons from his maiden outing.
The 19-year-old said he is still down about his performance at the Paris Olympics but is taking it all as a learning process in his career.
“I still feel the same and am still thinking about what went wrong, what things that I could have controlled but didn’t,” he said.
“I have been through a lot of competitions and have managed to hold my nerves well. But during the Olympics, I wasn’t able to do it.
“It is not a good experience for me but a good learning experience.’’
Bertrand finished 25th out of 26 divers in the men’s 10m platform preliminaries and failed to advance into the semi-finals.
He said the support he had from the team was much needed, especially the additional mental support provided to athletes.
“Hopefully there is more support because we all struggled in terms of the mental challenge.
“But for myself, I wish that I had found my passion more because at one point I actually lost myself and didn’t know what my purpose was.
“I didn’t know why I was doing all this for, but thankfully I found myself before the Olympics,” he said.
Bertrand, who was also the national contingent flagbearer at the opening ceremony, said his current plan is to take a break to reignite his passion for the sport.
“Currently I am not in the right state of mind, so my plan is to take a break and find myself and my love for the sport again.
“I have been pushing myself and have been injured in every inch of my muscles, so it’s time to take a good rest,” he said.
