The two-time Olympic medallist from Sarawak in a Facebook post said she finally had the time to meet with the relevant parties in sports to clarify on those matters. — AFP file photo
KUCHING (Feb 17): National diving queen Datuk Pandelela Rinong Pamg is disappointed that certain matters have been misreported by the media lately, causing much speculation and misunderstanding.
The two-time Olympic medallist from Sarawak in a Facebook post said she finally had the time to meet with the relevant parties in sports to clarify on those matters.
“I feel I should briefly explain myself to my supporters, fans and sponsors who have been there for me all this time. I am always grateful and extremely thankful to have your love, to celebrate my wins and to hold my hand through the difficult times.
“I was met upon my arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport by reporters asking me how I felt. I told them about my disappointment and accepted my defeat with no excuses,” she said.
She said that when she was asked what could have affected the team’s performance, she mentioned there were issues but could not elaborate on these without first meeting up with the relevant parties to conduct a post-mortem.
“These issues are related to training. However, these issues have been translated into terms like ‘entity’ and ‘third party’, which is very misleading to the public.
“This misreporting has caused so much speculation and misunderstanding, and I have spent the days since returning home meeting up with relevant sectors to explain myself.
“I do not have any other platforms to clear this to the public and, therefore, have decided to make this decision to clear the air once and for all. I hope this matter will finally be put to rest,” added Pandelela.
She explained that athletes train hard on a daily basis just so they can show the result of their hard work at a few important competitions.
“We feel our losses a thousand times stronger than anyone and beat ourselves down for mistakes harder than those hurled at us. But as athletes, we also learn tenacity — the ability to get up and go again and again.
“I still have a lot of fight and passion in me for diving, and I shall pick myself up from this and go again. And when it is time for me to hang up my hat, I shall also do so graciously as how all other athletes before me have,” she said.
Two-time Olympic medallist Pandelela failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics after she didn’t make the final in the women’s 10m platform individual after placing 29th and finished 12th in the women’s 10m platform synchronised with Nur Dhabitah Sabri at the recently concluded World Aquatics Championship in Doha, Qatar.
Malaysia Aquatics secretary Andy Low criticised her for giving too many excuses after failing to secure the ticket to Paris Olympics.