Veteran diver Melanie Rinaldi wins first Grand Prix medal

Melanie Rinaldi

MOSCOW, Russia – Veteran Montreal diver Melanie Rinaldi won the bronze medal Sunday on women’s three-metre to conclude the third stop on the FINA Grand Prix diving circuit. It was her first international medal in an individual medal event. She finished third behind two Chinese divers.

“This feels fabulous, it’s the best I’ve ever competed,” said Rinaldi, 29, who started competing internationally in 2002. “I was able to deal with the pressure. I had a tremendous amount of adrenaline and power and I was able to deal with that well. It was a sensation I hadn’t felt at a competition in a long time.”

The fight for the bronze went down to the final dive for Rinaldi. She was standing in fourth place and she nailed her reverse two and half in pike position. She only started executing the dive in competition a year ago.

“It’s a blind dive so it’s unusual to put it last” Rinaldi said. “But it’s a new strategy I was trying at this meet. I am able to do the dive well, so a decision was made to put it last to see how I did it under more pressure. In prelims, semis and final it worked out really well.’’

Her big goal for the season is to compete at the world championships in Rome this July.

‘’That’s my homeland so I would love to go there,’’ Rinaldi said. ‘’I’ve competed at Grand Prix’s there before and I always get a big cheer when the crowd sees my name.’’

About the FINA Grand Prix
Held since 1995, the FINA Grand Prix is similar in format to the World Cups in alpine skiing and speed skating. This season there are five stops, including the Canada Cup from April 30-May 3 in Montreal, Quebec.

After three FINA Grand Prix's this season, Canada’s medal tally sits at three: (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze).

About Diving Plongeon Canada
Diving Plongeon Canada (DPC) was established in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization to promote the growth and awareness of the sport in this country. As a member of FINA, the world’s governing body of aquatic sports, DPC contributes to the development of globally accepted standards of excellence in diving and supports the rules and regulations of international competition. Representing nine provincial diving associations, 67 local diving clubs and close to 4,000 high performance athletes, DPC shares a national commitment to advance the art and sport of diving and to position Canada as the number one diving nation of the world.  For information, visit www.diving.ca.

- 30 -