Malaysian diver Pandelela Rinong made history as the first Malaysian female athlete to win an Olympics medal and the first Malaysian athlete to win an Olympics medal in a sport besides badminton, after winning a bronze medal in the 10m platform at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Pandelela has been diving since age eight when she was discovered by a coach scouting for talents at her school. After winning at school meets, she was roped in to the national team and made her international debut at the Asian Junior Aquatics Championships where she won four gold medals. A year later, at 15, she participated in her first Olympics in Beijing in 2008. In 2009, she made history by winning the first ever diving medal for Malaysia along with her 10m synchronised platform partner Leong Mun Yee at the World Aquatics Championships.

In 2010, she won Malaysia’s first Commonwealth Games gold medal in an aquatic sport by winning the 10m platform event. She clinched her first and Malaysia’s first medal for an individual event at the 2015 Worlds Aquatics Championship, winning the bronze in the 10m platform event.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she achieved another first for the country, being part of the first Malaysian women’s team to win the silver medal in the 10m synchronised platform with Cheong Jun Hoong. She was honoured by her home state Sarawak for both Olympic victories, the first athlete to be accorded the Johan Bintang Kenyalang and to have the state aquatic centre named after her.