KUALA LUMPUR: It has been a rough year for diving queen Datuk Pandelela Rinong.
In February, she failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics after a poor performance at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Not only Pandelela, but the whole Malaysian squad failed to shine in the world meet.
That led to Malaysia Aquatics technical director Bryan Nickson Lomas implementing the Minimum Qualification Standard (MQS) to select only the best divers to represent the nation.
Divers - seniors and juniors - have to meet a set score at official national trials or competitions twice before becoming eligible to represent Malaysia.
Even decorated Olympians like Pandelela have to go through this process, but she has a positive attitude toward this.
"The MQS system and trials are good because it keeps us on our toes so we can't be in our comfort zone
"It also gives us the motivation to keep training hard, to always be prepared," said the 31-year-old at the National Aquatics Centre during the national diving trials yesterday.
Pandelela, who failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics since her debut in London in 2012 where she created history by becoming the first Malaysian women's diver to win a medal at the Olympics, followed up with a silver with Cheong Jun Hoong in the 10m synchronised platform at the 2016 Rio Games.
"What has happened is a lesson in my life, and it is a part of my life story that I can reflect on.
"I have learned the good and the bad. I have used the lessons to improve myself," she added.