All or Nothing

Despite the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, three of Malaysia’s divers, Leong Mun Yee, Ng Yan Yee and Nur Dhabitah Sabri, remain diligent with their eyes on the prize, as they reveal the trials and tribulations of becoming an Olympic diver

- Koyyi Chin

When asked about what success and failure meant to her, four-time Olympian Leong Mun Yee hummed, and there was a contemplative silence that hung over the studio for a moment before she finally answered. “I think,” Mun Yee began carefully, “that right now, failure isn’t something I think about—it’s not the point, and it’s not what’s important. What matters is that I tried my best and that I’ve worked my hardest to get this far.”

A LEAP OF FAITH

In 1995, six young hopefuls were chosen from the Malaysian state of Perak to represent the country in the 1998 Commonwealth Games. But only one of them debuted, and that very debutante was 13-year-old Mun Yee herself. “I joined for fun at first,” she recalls, “but after competing in the Commonwealth Games, I felt burnt out and honestly didn’t feel like diving anymore at the time.”

Taking a break from the diving scene for half a year, Mun Yee returned to the fray after receiving constant encouragement from her parents as well as her coach. “It became less of a chore and more for personal achievement—I wanted to see how far I could go.”

Fast forward 22 years later, the longtime diver has earned herself an impressive number of hard-won accolades, from being a 17-time gold medallist for the SEA Games and qualifying for next year’s Tokyo Olympics with a silver medal won alongside teammate Pandelela Rinong in July 2019 from the women’s 10m platform synchronisation event at the World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

SHOULDERING A NATION