WU Melissa

General
EARLY NIGHTS
She was advised to start going to bed earlier when the Australian Institute of Sport [AIS] worked with athletes on their physical and mental wellbeing in the run-up to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. She said the change had a positive effect on her. "The biggest thing for me was sleep. I knew I had an issue with not sleeping enough. But having the tests and speaking to people, it forced me to take it more seriously and I'm in bed at 9.30pm now. When you get up so early in the morning to go to training you really have to protect the hours you sleep. So I've had to be harsh on my bed time. That's made a huge difference for me. Probably with injuries, but mentally as well." (canberratimes.com.au, 28 Aug 2019)

BUSINESS OWNER
She is the co-owner of HrdKAW Strength Weightlifting Club based in Sydney, NSW, Australia. Her business partner is her brother, national weightlifter Joshua Wu. She also owns the Sydney-based activewear label Havok Athletic. (littlegymshop.com.au, 07 Apr 2020; Instagram profile, 04 May 2019; hrdkawstrength.com.au, 01 Jan 2019; LinkedIn profile, 01 Oct 2019)

COACH
She has coached diving at club level in Australia. "It's important to me to give to back diving and do what I can to help the next generation of divers coming through to be their best and get the best results possible." (limitlesspursuits.com, 04 Jun 2018)

COMPETITION BREAK
She took close to a 12-month break from competition after the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, QLD, Australia. (nswis.com.au, 15 Apr 2019; commonwealthgames.com.au, 01 Apr 2018)

FAMILY TRAGEDY
She considered quitting diving after her sister Kirsten took her own life in 2014. "I had to take some time off and just spend that time with my family. It was really difficult, and still is, obviously. When really tough things happen, sometimes you don't know where to start or how to even deal with life. As I worked through things with my family it was clear that diving is a big part of my life. I know that [Kirsten] was really passionate about sport, so to have her watching over me as I compete it gives me an inner strength." (abc.net.au, 28 Oct 2015)

At age 16 years and 101 days she became the youngest Australian diver to win an Olympic medal when she claimed silver in the 10m synchronised platform at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. (SportsDeskOnline, 15 May 2019)