All set for action: Bertrand Rhodict at a training session ahead of the men's 10m platform competition today.
TIME has been on the side of Olympic debutant Bertrand Rhodict, who will dive into the waters of the Paris Olympics Aquatics Centre today in the men’s 10m individual platform event.
The 19-year-old picked up a minor injury at training and is also working on two new dives to be used in Paris.
And the fact that his events come almost at the end of the Games means he has had time to recover and to practise the new dives.
Bertrand is now in good spirits as he goes up against 25 other divers in the preliminaries.
“The injury was a minor setback because I pulled my triceps. Besides that, everything has been going great. My body condition is on point and I can’t wait to compete,” he said.
The Sarawak-born diver said that, after weeks of polishing his routine, he has been performing consistently with his new higher-difficulty dives.
“I am glad that I have had more training time ahead of the competition.
‘‘I’m sure that when the event starts, the excitement will help me perform better,” he said.
National diving technical director Bryan Nickson Lomas has said that Bertrand may use his lower difficulty dives in the preliminaries, and save the more difficult, but rewarding, dives for the finals if he qualifies.
Despite his enthusiasm, Bertrand will have his work cut out against a tough field of divers.
The favourites are the two Chinese divers, Yang Hao and Cao Yuan, who finished first and second respectively at the World Championships in Doha in February.
Ukraine’s Oleksii Sereda, who came in third in Doha with a personal best of 528.65, will want to stay close behind the Chinese divers, who are no strangers to scoring above 550.
Bertrand currently has a personal best score of 442.35 which he scored at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, last year. That feat earned him his Paris Olympics ticket.
