Commonwealth Games veteran Melissa Wu will link up with Teju Williamson for the syncronised 10m platform after the retirement of Wu's partner Taneka Kovchenko on Games eve.
Kovchenko was forced to retire two days before the Games begun after scans revealed that if she dove wrong she could be left a quadriplegic.
The pair had won gold in the synchronised platform event at the FINA Diving World Cup on the Gold Coast last year and were favourites for the gold at the Games.
Kovchenko revealed a congenital problem that left her with a hyperflexible neck and vertebrae that compress her spinal cord and brain.
Wu said it reminded her of how vulnerable an athlete's life is.
"I'd seen her diving through an injury that had been giving her trouble for a while, and to see her push through that made me think: 'wow, what a great athlete'," she said.
"To hear she had a risk to her health, I felt so sad for her.
"I have respect for how tough she is," Wu said.
Wu will be joined up on the platform by Brisbane-based Teju Williamson.
Williamson was shocked when she was to take over Kovchenko's place in the event.
"I was quite shocked but Melissa was so supportive," she said.
"We just said let's see how it goes for the first couple of days and see whether or not it was going to work."
The pair has been working hard to form a combination before the competition and Wu has said they've both been working together well.
"We've had a bit of training on the platform and getting used to how the other person dives and making the necessary adjustments," she said.
"It's been tough on the whole team but at the end of the day we still have to compete and it's great to have Teju become part of the team.
"We're just lucky to have the opportunity to dive."
Williamson and Wu take to the platform for the preliminary of the women's 10m platform on Thursday.
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