Two years ago, Australia's Melissa Wu made history when she burst onto the diving scene at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Trials and nailed a perfect score of 10. Two years on, the petite 16 year-old is ready to make history again - at the Beijing Olympics.
As the youngest diver on the Australian Olympic team, measuring in at a mere 142cm, Wu is not fazed by her older competitors who have years of diving experience on her. The soft spoken teenager shows maturity beyond her age, speaking of her sport with professionalism and showing immense focus.
"I haven't really been focusing on my age, I've just been focusing on my diving and how I can get the best performance in Beijing," said Wu, who trains for 30 hours each week from the crack of dawn.
"I just really enjoy the whole thing. I enjoy training, it provides a challenge and it's something I love to do everyday, and there are just so many opportunities that come with it. It's just very, very exciting," she told Xinhua on Tuesday over a phone call from the eastern coastal city of Brisbane where she has her daily diving training.
For Wu, the Beijing Games will hold added significance - not only will it be her first Olympic Games but, being half Chinese, she will also be competing against the country her father came from.
"This will be my seventh time in China and it's always significant to go back, but this time will definitely be a lot more special knowing that I'm half Chinese and my grandfather, my father and my sister are going, so that will be really special for them too."
While her whole family will be backing the Australian team, Wu conceded that it would be difficult competing against the Chinese on their home soil, and even more difficult to claim gold.
"The Chinese will be very tough because they're all trained divers who will be on their home turf, so they will be especially hard because they'll have their crowd there cheering," said Wu.
Though she puts the Chinese up there as her main rivals, she knows that at the Olympics, it's anyone's game
"There will be divers from other countries who will be very tough to beat, and at the Olympics there will just be divers who will come out and perform amazingly, so I think everyone is in a tough competition."
With all the international diving talents in the one place competing for gold, does Wu think the Aussies have a chance?
"Definitely," she said firmly.
(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2008)