Aussie Olympic hero facing early retirement after reality TV stunt
Aussie Olympian Melissa Wu could be facing early retirement after an injury sustained during a reality TV show appearance.
Wu made history at the Olympics placing third in the 10m diving at the Tokyo Olympics.
She scored a remarkable 81.6 at the Tokyo Olympics to secure her first individual medal at the Games.
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Wu won silver, along with Briony Cole, in the synchronised diving at the 2008 Olympics.
However, Wu recently revealed she spent five-months trying to recover from a back injury sustained during her participation in realty show SAS Australia.
Unfortunately, this has put the 29-year-old's participation in the Commonwealth games in Birmingham in serious doubt.
Wu said she isn't overly optimistic her back will recover for competition.
“I am managing it the best I can and push forward with diving but I have to be really careful about not pushing it too hard because then I’ll go backwards,” Wu told The Daily Telegraph.
"I am not hugely confident that it will get better because it has been five months now. It is a physical issue but if it doesn’t get better, it becomes a mental challenge to try and overcome that.”
Wu said past injuries may have flared up making recovery an issue.
The Aussie bronze medallist is determined not to end her career in this fashion and still wants to head to the Commonwealth Games and Paris Olympics 2024.
“I don’t want to retire based on this so I am pretty determined to push through it and figure out how I can get it better and good enough to compete," she added.
Melissa Wu's historic Tokyo Olympics
The Aussie has been diving since the age of 14 at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and while she has picked up many medals, an individual award has evaded her.
Wu placed 6th in Beijing 2008, 4th in London 2012 and 5th in Rio 2016.
But in Tokyo, she finally picked up a well-deserved medal.
Wu is the reigning gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games.
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