MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Melissa Wu will hope to keep Australia in the diving medals at a seventh successive Olympics after claiming a spot on her fifth Games team for Paris.
At 16, Wu became the country’s youngest diver to win an Olympic medal with silver in the synchronised 10m platform event at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Now 32, she will become Australia’s first diver to compete at five Olympics after overcoming a number of injuries since the Tokyo Games.
“It’s a pretty incredible thing to achieve five Olympic teams,” Wu said in a statement.
“I’ve had a few injuries the past few years and my diving hasn’t been the best, but now I feel like I’m finally getting back into form and it’s exciting to have the opportunity to continue to work back towards what I know I’m capable of.”
Wu took her first individual medal at Tokyo, a bronze in the 10m platform, to help Australia continue its proud record in a sport dominated by China.
Australia have high hopes of improving on that solitary medal at Paris, with a number of proven performers on their nine-member team and solid results at world events since Tokyo.
Anabelle Smith and Maddison Keeney, who took the synchronised 3m springboard bronze at Rio in 2016, will bid for another medal in the event.
Cassiel Rousseau is a strong contender in the men’s 10m platform having won the world title at Fukuoka last year.
The 23-year-old’s grandfather Michel Rousseau won a track cycling gold for France at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and Cassiel hopes for similar success in his mother’s country.
“My mum grew up in Paris and my grandfather won Olympic gold for France,” he said.
“In terms of our family history it’s massive, I just love Paris.”
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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