By Josh Squire

Melissa Wu’s quest for a record-breaking fifth Olympic appearance has ended in perfect fashion, joining a group of seven divers selected to team up with Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith in Paris, as previously announced.

Five-time Commonwealth Games medallist Wu will be joined by fellow gold medallists Cassiel Rousseau (Birmingham 2022) and Dominic Bedggood (Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018) to lead the recently finalised Australian Olympic Diving Team.

The Games present a chance for Wu to finally find the top step of the podium and complete the full set of medals at Olympic Games. After claiming silver at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games alongside two-time gold medallist Alexandra Croak in the 10m Synchronised Platform, Wu picked up another second-place finish at the Beijing Olympics two years later in the same event, this time with Melbourne 2006 gold medallist Bree Cole.

Following narrow misses in her previous three Olympics (a fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finish), Wu finally found the medal positions in the 10m individual platform in 2021.

A bronze medal there leaves only a gold medal missing from the Olympic collection to go along with three golds and two silvers from five Commonwealth Games appearances.

Birmingham 2022 gold medallist and 2023 World Champion Rousseau will be fighting for a 2024 Olympic crown in the men’s 10m Platform but will first partner with Bedggood to take on the 10m Synchronised Platform.

Consistency is key 🔑 Working hard is in Cassiel Rousseau's DNA.#AllezAUS | @DivingAUS pic.twitter.com/HrVN1At78k

— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) June 17, 2024

Rousseau will be joined by 18-year-old 2023 Emerging Athlete of the Month nominee Jaxon Bowshire in contesting the 10m individual platform event, while Wu will be joined by another teenager in Ellie Cole.

Gold Coast 2018 Team Member Kurtis Mathews will take up his place as Australia’s only male competitor in the 3m Springboard. The Victorian out-duelled three-time Birmingham 2022 medallist Shixin Li at the Australian Open Diving Championships earlier this month to claim the available spot.

Rounding out the newly selected athletes was February’s Emerging Athlete of the Month Alysha Koloi. The former gymnast joins her diving idol and dual Birmingham 2022 gold medallist Maddison Keeney in the women’s 3m springboard.

Keeney had already locked in her second Olympic Games berth in May after a silver medal at the 2024 World Championships in the women’s 3m Synchronised Springboard event with Birmingham 2022 gold medallist Anabelle Smith.

Smith will be competing at her fourth Olympics, hoping to improve on the bronze medal that she and Keeney won at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the same event.

Melissa Wu’s bronze was the only medal that the Australian diving team claimed in Tokyo, but a string of impressive international performances since then put the Aussies in a good position to improve their tally this time around.

The diving competition will be held at the Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis from the 27 July to 10 August 2024.

With thanks to the Australian Olympic Committee and Diving Australia.