SINGAPORE, June 8 — As one of the biggest names headlining the 28th SEA Games diving competition, Pandelela Rinong knows many rivals are eyeing her place as the sport’s poster girl in the region.

However, if the Malaysian star is feeling the heat, she is definitely not showing it.

The 22-year-old, who became her country’s first Olympic medallist in diving when she won a bronze in the women’s 10m platform at the 2012 London Games, will begin her SEA Games campaign on the final day of the diving programme tomorrow in the same event at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.

She has been untouchable in the event at the SEA Games, winning the gold medal in the past three editions in 2009, 2011 and 2013.

Despite concerns over an old knee injury, the Sarawak-born star issued a warning to her rivals that she is not done yet. “There is no secret to being good, just hard work. I don’t stop even when it hurts; I stop when I’m done,” Pandelela told TODAY.

“When I go to the tip of the diving board, my mind goes blank and I just count to three and jump. I forget all the pain and fear.”

The 1.59m-tall Sarawak-born diver of Bidayuh ethnicity made history at the 2012 London Olympics, when she scored a total of 359.20 points in the women’s 10m platform to secure the bronze behind gold medallist Chen Ruolin of China (422.30) and Australian silver medallist Brittany Broben (366.50).

A year later at the World Swimming Championships in Barcelona, she and team-mate Leong Mun Yee won their second successive bronze medal in the women’s 10m synchronised platform.

However, an injury to her left knee in training last year resulted in fears that she could miss the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in Glasgow and Incheon respectively.

But Pandelela recovered sufficiently to win a silver (10m platform) and bronze (10m synchronised platform) at the Commonwealth Games, as well as a bronze in the 10m synchronised platform in Incheon.

Now, the diver concentrates only on the 10m platform event in a bid by her coach Yang Zhuliang to prolong her career, as she risks aggravating her injury if she continues to compete in springboard diving.

Her biggest rivals for the 10m platform title at this SEA Games are probably team-mate Loh Zhiayi, who won the silver at the 2013 Games, and Myanmar’s Hla Nandar.

Pandelela’s star power was clearly present at OCBC Aquatic Centre on the first day of the diving competition on Saturday, as fans waited to take selfies with her at the end of the meet.

“I am enjoying Singapore. It is my third time here. It’s special because I won two silvers (10m individual platform and 3m springboard) at the Youth Olympics here five years ago,” she said.

“It helps that the Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia gives me a lot of support to pursue my dream. I want to create even more history for Malaysia. Every athlete wants to get gold at the Olympics, so I hope to do that in Rio.” — TODAY