Pandelela Rinong: Our new Olympic star

All of Malaysia's hope for Olympic glory was pinned on Lee Chong Wei winning badminton gold at last. But then quietly out of nowhere came a cherubic 19-year-old Sarawakian girl, all 5'3" (160cm) of her, a dark horse at the London Games, to win the bronze medal in the women's 10m individual platform final and dive into history as Malaysia's first female Olympic winner. Not many thought our team could win, especially since they had failed their last six events. But Pandelela Rinong went against the odds and delivered. Her win was our first-ever Olympic medal in a sport other than badminton.

She garnered a total of 359.20 points to finish third behind China's Chen Ruolin who won gold with 422.30 points and Australia's Brittany Broben who took silver on 366.50 points. This also makes Pandelela the first Malaysian woman to win an Olympic medal. Pandelela told reporters she hopes her achievement in London will inspire others to take diving up as a competitive sport. "I'm so happy with winning this medal. It's something that I had only dreamed off and now diving can look at it as a turning point. I feel that a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders and we can now look forward to better times."

Pandelela had a poor start in the final, earning only 58.50 points for her first dive and placing 10th in the ranking. By her third dive, she was still in 10th place—until her last two dives were well received by the judges, netting 81.60 and 76.80 points. "After the first dive, I told myself not to be worried and to stay calm," she said. "At that point I wasn't thinking of a medal at all. I just wanted to do my best. I'm glad that my routines worked and some of the others registered lower points." This may be Pandelela's most high-profile feat but it's not her first achievement by far. At the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, she won bronze in the women's 10m synchronised platform final with Mun Yee Leong.

She then took silver at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore in the girls' 10m platform and 3m springboard finals. Finally at the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi, she was champion of the women's 10m platform final and came home with Malaysia's first gold from the games.

Malaysian Diver Pandelela Rinong Wins Olympic Bronze Medal in Olympic 2012 Diving - Women 10m Platform

Our national diver, Pandelela Rinong helped Malaysia got its 2nd 2012 Olympic medal today! The 19 year old Sarawakian lass put up a calm and excellent dive in the last round (Round 5) to ensure a medal spot after beating other contestants in this tightly-compete event. Pandelela Rinong was at the 7th spot after Round 4 with 282.40 points in this tough competition. In Round 5 (final round), she managed to pull off a climax with a score of 76.80 to finish at 359.20, leading the competition right after her jump before being overtaken by the silver medalist, Australian Brittany Broben which scored an overall total of 366.50 points. The champion of Diving - Women 10m event was none other than the 2008 Olympic gold medalist Chen Ruolin from China, who managed to retain her title as world champion with a magnificent 422.30 points, which is 55.80 points ahead of her closest contender.

Pandelela Rinong awarded the NPC-Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin SM Amin 1Malaysian of the Year award

Pandelela Rinong, our London Olympics diving bronze medalist, has been awarded the National Press Club (NPC) – Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin SM Amin 1Malaysian of the Year award. The Sarawakian lass was presented the award by PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who was accompanied by Puan Sri Datin Seri Utama Zaleha Ismail, director of the Naza Group, at the NPC Awards 2012 two days ago. Pandelela created history in July when she became the first Malaysian female athlete to win a medal at the Olympics by finishing the women’s 10-metre individual platform diving event with third highest points. Her bronze is also Malaysia’s first-ever medal in a sport other than badminton. “Her achievements were no easy feat and she proved that Malaysians can compete with the world’s best at the highest level. Moreover, she reminded us that with hard work, passion and determination, anything is possible and will inspire a new generation of athletes to strive for excellence,” said SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin, joint group executive chairman of the Naza Group. Named after the Naza Group’s late founder, the NPC – Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin SM Amin 1Malaysian of the Year award seeks to honour Malaysians who have excelled in their respective fields. The inaugural award in 2010 was awarded to cartoonist Datuk Mohd Nor Khalid, more popularly known as Lat. Last year, cyclist Azizulhasni Awang was honoured. Besides the Olympic bronze, Pandelela had previously won a gold medal in the 10-metre individual platform diving event at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, the first Commonwealth Games diving medal for Malaysia.

Life-changing experience for Pandelela

KUALA LUMPUR: London Olympic diving bronze medallist Pandelela Rinong is still a teenager but her family’s welfare is very much on her mind. The 19-year-old has said that she will use the money earned from the incentives she has received so far to provide for a more comfortable life for her family. Pandelela has been rewarded with hundreds of thousands of dollars from various quarters over the past three weeks, with the latest being a RM90,000 insurance policy under the Carlsberg Retirement Scheme from the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) yesterday. Pandelela was rewarded with RM100,000 by The Star and RM300,000 by the government immediately after becoming the first Malaysian woman medal winner at the Olympics.

She has also expressed her desire to pursue Sports Science at Universiti Malaya and, as such, she can opt to turn the four-year scholarship offer to study in Australia from the Sarawak government into share units if she wants to. The Bidayuh girl described winning the Olympic bronze medal as “a life-changing experience” – allowing her to provide a better life for her parents and siblings with the monetary rewards earned. ”My dream home is a bungalow. Who doesn’t want to own one?” she said. “Realistically, I want to have my own house ... I am thinking of buying a terrace house in Kuala Lumpur and another one in Sarawak. “Nothing is certain yet but my intention is to give my family a better life. The house we are staying at in Kuching does not belong completely to us as we are still paying for it,” added Pandelela, who is the second eldest of four siblings. The diver has also reaped nearly RM200,000 in incentives over the last three years, having done well in the New Delhi Commonwealth Games, Guangzhou Asian Games and the Diving World Series. Pandelela bought her father Pamg Joheng, a contract labourer who earns RM45 a day, a new Proton Exora to replace the Mitsubishi Trident that has been the family’s only vehicle for the last 14 years. National badminton champion Lee Chong Wei also secured an insurance policy worth RM260,000 following his two silver medal successes in two Olympic Games – London 2012 and Beijing 2008. The insurance scheme so far has 88 recipients with a total value of RM3.13mil. It is only for Olympic medallists and Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medallists. The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) will finance the premium for each recipient for a period of 14 years. Pandelela later joined her diving team-mates – Wendy Ng Yan Yee and Cheong Jun Hoong – to perform the current K-Pop dance craze “Oppa Gangnam Style”.

Nadai Nama Nama Welcomes Pandelela

It was reported that she has not returned to Sarawak for 10 months as she was training intensively for the London Olympics 2012 across the South China Sea. Though her arrival was during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays, a large welcoming crowd turned up at the VIP Arrival Hall getting ready to welcome our Diving Queen.

The welcoming party was a multi vehicle and multicultural event as the pictures below will show. Everyone was anxious to catch a glimpse of this VIP in the person of Pandelela Rinong, Malaysia's diving Queen, Sarawak's young heroine and the Bidayuh community's pride. Maybe that is how I should sum it up as there are many articles and pictures of her floating around in the main media and the internet. There was no protocol needed here as everyone was at the airport to be part of this historic moment. How often does one get to see an Olympian in real live, a Sarawakian Olympian some more. For me, I'll call this Halley's Comet moment maybe as the comet takes 76 years to travel around our sun (eclipses be it moon or sun happen more often). Of course I'll be almost 50 when the next Olympic in Rio happens and only God knows if I am still around.

Bronze for heroic Pandelela

LONDON: Malaysia's desire for an Olympic medal -- from a sport other than badminton -- was fulfilled at the London Olympics Aquatic Centre in the early hours of Friday when diver Pandelela Rinong lived up to expectations to deliver the 10m platform bronze.

It was a magnificent medal to win, considering the pressure the 19-year-old was under after a poor first dive left her in 10th place in the 12-diver field. Pandelela, however, heeded coach Yang Zhuliang's advise for her to remain calm and focus on her remaining dives and the Sarawakian slowly but surely pulled herself back into contention as her main challengers wilted. In fact, had it not been for the first dive - which gave her only 58.50 points, Pandelela could have well won the silver as her final total of 359.20 points was not too far off silver medallist Brittany Broben of Australia's total of 366.50. China's Chen Ruolin was a runaway winner with 422.30. Pandelela, however, was too excited to think about missing out on silver. "This is a massive achievement for Malaysian diving and I am so proud of becoming the first Malaysian from outside badminton to win a medal at the Olympics for Malaysia. I can't believe it," said Pandelela. After her first dive, Pandelela found the consistency she required as she scored 78.30, 64.00, 81.60 and 76.80. It was the fourth dive which pulled her back into reckoning and the fifth sealed her third place after Australia's Melissa Wu failed to achieve the score needed to overcome Pandelela. "My coach told me to forget about the first dive, stay calm and focus on the remaining dives," said Pandelela, whose first thought was to call her family after fulfilling her media obligations. "My mother, who was here, had returned home but I will call her once I find my phone." The bronze means Pandelela has won a medal at every level, including a silver in the 10m platform at the 2010 Junior Olympics at Sydney. It also means she will receive RM150,000 from the National Sports Council and a lifetime pension of RM2,000 monthly. "I hope this inspires more Malaysians to take up the sport as diving can bring honour to Malaysia." The nation certainly agrees, thanks to Pandelela.

Pandelela and Mun Yee score a first for Malaysia in GP circuit diving

PETALING JAYA: The top Malaysian diving pair of Pandelela Rinong-Leong Mun Yee almost did not take part in the German Open in Rostock due to the plume of volcanic ash spreading from Iceland. The team’s flight to the city in northern Germany last Tuesday arrived 30 minutes before the authorities closed the airport. And Pandelela-Mun Yee should be thanking their lucky stars that they got to compete in the Open and went on to carve out a historic achievement for Malaysia in diving last Sunday.

Pandelela-Mun Yee won the women’s 10m platform synchronised event and they are the first Malaysian divers to come out tops in the World Diving Grand Prix. The duo held off the Chinese back-up pair of Si Yajie-Xing Yiying in the last two attempts to secure the gold on 312.96. Yajie-Yiying had made a mess of the second dive to drop to fourth place. But the Chinese pair, who had the combined highest total difficulties of 13.7 in the field, recovered to take silver on 309.00. Germany's Nora Subschinski-Christin Steuer took bronze on 300.54. Pandelela-Mun Yee, who went in on a combined total difficulties of 13.4, took advantage of a narrow lead after the second dive and pressed on for a breakthrough victory. It was also the second medal for Pandelela in the meet after claiming a silver in the individual platform discipline last Friday. Pandelela was delighted with their efforts and considered it a good boost ahead of their world championship campaign in Shanghai in July where they are hoping to at least match their bronze medal-winning performance at the previous meet. In Rome two years ago, they landed the first world championship medal for Malaysia in aquatics. But the stake will be even higher in Shanghai this time as the top three pairs earn early qualification for the London Olympics next year. The German Open was the last meet for us before the world championships. The coach felt this will be a good tune-up as we can see what we need to improve on before we go to Shanghai,said Pandelela, who will head for China together with her team-mates for centralised training. âs a pleasant surprise to win the gold medal here but we still have a lot to work on as the competition is stronger at the world championships. Bryan Nickson’s campaign in the men's 10m platform ended with a fifth-place finish in the semi-finals. In the women's 3m springboard synchronised final, Mun Yee paired up with Wendy Ng for fourth place. Cheong Jun Hoong reached the women's 3m springboard final for the first time on a GP circuit meet last Saturday and finished sixth.