Late swimmer Colin Soon remembered with World Para Swimming C’ships theme song

SINGAPORE – Come September, Team Singapore will field nine swimmers in the Sept 21-27 Toyota World Para Swimming Championships at OCBC Aquatic Centre, its largest contingent to date.

But while there was a sense of celebration on Aug 31, when the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) unveiled the medal design, theme song and Singapore contingent in a ceremony at The Star Vista mall, there was also an air of sombreness as the fraternity remembered the late swimmer Colin Soon.

The event opened with the championships’ theme song Calling, which was performed live by local artiste Olivia Ong and 13-year-old Nur Anisah Daaniys, a goalball athlete who is visually impaired.

As the performance ended, the emcee added that the song is “in loving memory of Colin Soon”, making it the first time that SDSC publicly revealed the swimmer’s death.

In a media statement sent out after the event, SDSC said the theme song was “adapted from a music assignment by Team Singapore para-swimmer Colin Soon, who passed away earlier this year”.

It added: “With his family’s blessing, SDSC ensured Colin’s music would live on at the world championships, alongside the teammates he would have joined.”

SDSC declined further comment when asked for more details.

The 19-year-old had a form of visual impairment known as cone-rod dystrophy. He was a multiple gold medallist at the Asean Para Games.

At the 2023 edition in Cambodia, he enjoyed a four-gold haul, improving on his tally of one gold and two silvers from the 2022 edition.

He also represented Singapore at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou in 2023 and was one of four para-swimmers from Singapore at the previous world championships in Manchester, England in 2023.

He competed in his first event of the year at the Para Swimming World Series Australia held in Melbourne from Feb 14 to 16.

Soon’s older sister Sophie, 28, is a Paralympic swimmer and is part of the Singapore contingent who will be competing at the upcoming world championships.

The others are Darren Chan, Han Liang Chou, Jareth Wong, Jazlene Tan, Danielle Moi, Toh Wei Soong, Wong Zhi Wei and world champion Yip Pin Xiu.

Yip is coming off the back of a successful Paris 2024, where she earned her sixth and seventh Paralympic golds for Singapore. She is looking forward to the world championships, which are held in Asia for the first time.

The 33-year-old, who won the S2 50m and 100m backstroke titles for the third consecutive time at the last edition in Manchester, said: “I’ll be working hard to defend my world championships titles. It’s never an easy task.

“I’ve never competed in front of our home crowd at such a high-level competition, so the pressure is much greater but I’m also really hoping to draw strength from our Singaporean crowd. I will give my very best to make Singapore proud.”

Besides Yip, Toh, Wong and Sophie, the rest will be making their world championships debut.

Moi, 25, has been training full-time for her maiden world meet. She used to help out at Mexican restaurant Huevos Singapore, which is co-owned by her brother, but stopped earlier this year to focus on training.

She draws inspiration from trailblazers like Yip and former para-swimmer Theresa Goh – the country’s first swimming world champion in 2006 and a Paralympic bronze medallist at Rio de Janeiro 2016 – and is determined to make her own mark on the international stage.

She said: “I trained with them in my early days of swimming more than 10 years ago at the Aquatic Performance Swim Club at Farrer Park. They worked hard and fought hard to be where they are.

“If they could do it, I could do it as well. I look up to them. I look at them as role models. Because if they didn’t give up and achieved their dreams, why should I?”

Moi will be competing in the S14 categories of the 200m freestyle, mixed 4x100m freestyle, mixed 4x100m medley and 100m butterfly.

Han, who will take part in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB14, mixed 4x100m freestyle S14 and mixed 4x100m medley S14, is looking forward to his debut too.

“It means a lot to me (to be competing at the world championships) because it feels like one step closer to my dream of competing and proving myself on an international stage,” said the 28-year-old, who juggles training with his job as a sales assistant at a grocery chain.

“I’m motivated to train hard for the world championships because I’m given the chance to expose myself to new challenges and a wider horizon of unknowns. Every competition gives me something new to learn and grow from.”

The event also saw the unveiling of the 2025 world championship medals, which are designed by 19-year-old national boccia athlete Aloysius Gan. Four distinct wave patterns adorn the medal’s front, symbolising the Paralympic values of courage, determination, inspiration and equality.