Mental, Motivational Factors influenced divers Performance At Paris 2024 - Bryan 

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 (Bernama) -- The performance of the national divers, who once again returned empty-handed at the 2024 Paris Olympics, was not due to a lack of support in the preparation phase for the prestigious global sports event.

National diving team Technical Director Bryan Nickson Lomas said the team received full support in preparing its divers, Bertrand Rhodict Lises, who made his Olympic debut at the age of 19, and elite diver Nur Dhabitah Sabri.

However, according to Bryan, mental and motivational factors were seen as influencing the performances of both athletes.

“The support was all okay, ISN (National Sports Institute) provided full support, (in terms of) training camps, funding, and services were all top-notch. But we felt something was missing, especially for Rhodict, due to the absence of friends during the training camp. He was really excited but it was his first time going abroad for a training camp without the friends he was familiar with, so that was one factor.

“For Bitah (Dhabitah), our ultimate goal was to make it to the final, so perhaps in the final she was looking forward to what’s next. In terms of her preparation for the final push, it did not materialise as expected, so that was the situation,” he said when met during the Post-Mortem Session for the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games at the National Sports Council (MSN) here today.

At Paris 2024, which concluded last August, Nur Dhabitah, who qualified through a quota not utilised by other countries' athletes, had to settle for the last position among the 12 divers in the women’s 3-metres springboard final.

Bertrand Rhodict’s debut ended in disappointment as he failed to progress to the semi-finals in the men’s 10-metres platform event, finishing 25th out of 26 participants in the preliminary round.

Malaysia won its first Olympic medal in diving at the 2012 London edition, a bronze in the women’s 10m platform  by Datuk Pandelela Rinong, and later secured silver in the 10m synchronised platform at Rio 2016 through the Pandelela-Jun Hoong duo.

Bryan added that the national diving team’s next focus would be the 2024 World Junior Aquatics Championships in Rio de Janeiro, scheduled to take place from Nov 24 to Dec 1, before shifting their attention to the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.

“For the World Junior Aquatics Championships, we are sending seven divers, five men and two women. In terms of the MQS (Minimum Qualification Score), some have solidly achieved the MQS, while others are given the opportunity based on their performance in SUKMA (Malaysia Games), especially the women, as we want to provide more opportunities for them,” he said.

-- BERNAMA