Jun Hoong, who will turn 32 in April, said that despite suffering from injuries and inconsistent performances in recent years, she remained committed to continuing to represent the country.
However, she has had to accept the fact that her contract was not renewed by the National Sports Council (NSC) and Malaysia Swimming (MS) recently, thus forcing her to call it a day.
In her retirement announcement on her Instagram account, the Ipoh-born expressed her appreciation and gratitude to everyone who had supported her during her diving career.
“I would like to express my appreciation to the NSC, Youth and Sports Ministry and Olympic Council of Malaysia for their support throughout the years, without which I would not be where I am today,” she said.
“I must also express my heartfelt gratitude to the National Sports Institute (NSI) for their support in many ways, including medical assistance rendered to me by the doctors, rehabilitation (team), physiotherapists, psychological counsellors and all the other staff.”
When contacted, Jun Hoong said she has yet to decide on her next move, despite having received a coaching offer in Perak from the NSC.
“The NSC did ask what I wanted to do and what degree I hold. They offered to help me. and asked if I wanted to go back to Perak to become a coach there. But I don’t want to do that yet,” she said.
“For now, I still don’t have any plans because this (the resignation) came quite suddenly and I was busy focusing on rehabilitation and treatment.”
Jun Hoong made history when she became the country’s first and, so far, only diver to win at the World Championships in 2017 in Budapest, Hungary. Her gold medal came in the 10m platform event.
Prior to that, she bagged Malaysia’s first Olympic silver in diving with Pandelela Rinong in women’s 10m platform synchro.
However, a second knee surgery in September 2018, coupled with recurring injuries, resulted in Jun Hoong struggling to perform consistently.
“Actually, I never dreamt of becoming a world champion, never thought I could actually beat the China divers … all my hard work paid off. I must admit that my biggest regret is not being able to perform consistently in competitions despite my best efforts,” she said.