KUALA LUMPUR - With less than 40 days to go, the 36-year-old diving queen, Leong Mun Yee, is more determined than ever to clinch her first-ever Olympic medal before bidding adieu to the world's biggest multi-sport Games.
“I hope I can contribute a medal to Malaysia at the Tokyo Olympics,” she said.
Mun Yee, who has represented Malaysia at the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012, is set to feature in the women’s 10-metre (m) synchronised platform event in Tokyo with Rio 2016 silver medallist Pandelela Rinong.
The duo secured the ticket to Tokyo after winning a silver medal in the women’s 10m synchronised platform by accumulating 312.72 points at the 18th FINA World Diving Championships in Gwangju, South Korea in July 2019.
The Tokyo Games may be her final Olympic outing, but the Ipoh-born is still not sure when she will call it a day as a national diver.
Right now her focus is all on her last round of training even though she’s gutted at not being able to train overseas like in the past.
Mun Yee, whose last outing was at the FINA Diving World Cup 2021 held in Tokyo, Japan, in April, expressed concern about the lack of competition before the Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, she hopes that the divers will make use of the online test event to be held soon to get back into the groove ahead of the July 23-Aug 8 Tokyo Olympics.
Mun Yee, who has been diving since she was 10, is among the most successful national divers, having bagged numerous medals, including silver at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India, bronze at the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea and two golds at the 2017 KL SEA Games.
She is also the first Malaysian diver, together with Pandelela, to win a bronze medal in women’s 10m synchronised platform at the 2019 FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy, besides creating history after the Malaysian Book of Records named her as the first female athlete to qualify for four Olympics in 2012.
Only badminton great Datuk Lee Chong Wei and national sailor Kelvin Lim have competed in four Olympic Games, so far. - Bernama, 16 June, 2021
