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Sporting Life
Is retirement the hardest struggle in sport?
The 30s is when the world hits its stride but athletes start to peter out. To retire is to lose their identity, to leave their tribes and to step uneasily into the real world.
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Singapore swimmers Amanda Lim (left) and Quah Ting Wen hug after finishing second and first respectively in the 50m freestyle at the SEA Games in May.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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The alarm rings, her body stirs, the pain begins. Every day everything hurts for swimmer Amanda Lim. “My body is sore,” she says, “and I’m too tired on weekends to do anything else”. Her parents are worried because she’s constantly exhausted.
Quit, they say. Not yet, she replies.
