Pandelela becomes first Malaysian woman to win Olympic medal
Malaysian diver Pamg Pandelela Rinong clinched a historic Olympic medal for her country on Thursday, the first-ever non-badminton medal of Malaysia and first medal for a woman.
Pamg came from behind in the women's 10m platform final to take a bronze medal, adding the second Olympic medal for Malaysia following the silver of Lee Chong Wei in men's badminton singles.
The 19-year-old had an unsatisfactory start in the final as she staged a poor first dive - a forward three-and-a-half somersault in pike position - which put her in the 10th place with 58.5 points. It was also the lowest scores of all her five dives in the final.
Later she managed to claw back step by step, and stood the seventh place before the last round.
Pamg's beautiful last dive saw her climbing from seventh to third, and finally step on the Olympic podium.
She has brought the first-ever diving Olympic medal for Malaysia.
"I feel a great honor to win the historic medal for my country," said Pamg, who bore the flag for Malaysia at the opening ceremony of London Games.
"I'm very proud of Malaysia for the breakthrough, and hope my country is also proud of me," she added.
Pamg was not considered a medal hope by her country before the games and diving is not a signature event of Malaysia.
"The nation thought that we had no chance of winning a medal in diving before we came to London. We had not even qualified for the semifinals at previous Olympics," she said.
"It is indeed a surprising victory for me and for my country," she added.
Pamg said she already dropped her expectation for a medal after scoring 58.50 in her first dive, instead, she just focused on improving her moves step by step.
Her Chinese coach Yang Zhuliang said Pamg was nervous before the games, and her performance in the final was below her average.
"It's lucky for her to take the medal. She was not in her best form today. Actually she can do better dives than tonight," Yang said.
Pamg hopes her historic achievements would boost the development of diving career in her country.
"Diving is not that famous in Malaysia like badminton. I hope my results would inspire more youth to take up diving," she said.
source: Sinchew