Melissa Wu


Melissa Paige Wu is an Australian diver and silver medal winner at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2008 Summer Olympics. She is an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.

Diving

Wu began diving in 2003. The same year she fractured the humerus bone in her left arm after accidentally landing on a trampoline in 2003, and had to halt training for six months. After winning a number of junior and state titles in 2004 and 2005, she won the 10 metre platform at the Australian Open Diving Championships in 2006, finishing ahead of Olympic medallists Chantelle Newbery and Loudy Tourky. The win earned her a place on the Commonwealth Games team, where she won a silver medal on the synchronised 10 metre platform with Alexandra Croak and finished fifth in the individual 10 metre platform. In 2007, she defended the 10 metre platform title at the Australian Open. She was selected for the World Championships, where she won silver in the synchronised 10 metre platform and finished 11th in the individual event.
In 2008, along with Briony Cole, Wu won a silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing for the synchronized 10 metre platform, becoming the youngest Australian ever to win an Olympic medal in diving. She also competed in the women's 10 metre platform, making it into the finals, ending up ranked sixth out of twelve competitors. By age 16 she had medalled in every major international diving competition. In 2010 at the Delhi Commonwealth Games, Wu won a gold medal in the synchronised 10 metre platform with her partner Alexandra Croak and a silver medal in the individual 10 metre platform. She placed fourth in the 10 m platform at the 2012 Olympics and fifth at the 2016 Rio Games. She suffered much of the 2013 season due to a back injury.
Wu competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Queensland, winning gold in the individual 10 metre platform and, with Teju Williamson, placing 4th in the synchronised 10 metre platform.

Personal life

Wu lives in Sydney. Her mother is Australian and her father is of Chinese descent. She is the cousin of Australian Olympic rugby 7's player James Stannard and the second cousin of Australian hurdler Jana Rawlinson. Her brother Joshua and sister Madeline train in weightlifting.
Wu attended Coverdale Christian School for her primary education and attended Citipointe Christian College in Brisbane until 2008. At the end of grade 9, Wu took on home schooling via the Brisbane School of Distance Education. She is currently completing a Bachelor of Business degree at Macquarie University, Sydney. She has a tattoo of the Olympic rings shaped as hearts on her right leg.