Mixed Olympic debuts for Singapore’s young swimmers
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Singapore's women's 4x100m medley relay team of (clockwise from top left) Quah Jing Wen, Levenia Sim, Letitia Sim and Gan Ching Hwee after their heats at the Paris Olympics on Aug 3.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
PARIS – It was a mixed campaign at the Paris Olympics for Singapore’s swimming debutants as their involvement in the quadrennial event concluded on Aug 3.
While distance swimmer Gan Ching Hwee, 21, broke the women’s 800m and 1,500m freestyle national records at the Paris La Defense Arena, Singapore’s ‘A’ qualifiers Letitia Sim and Jonathan Tan endured tougher outings as their timings were some way off their personal bests.
In an assessment of the swimmers’ Paris 2024 campaign, National Training Centre assistant coach Gustavo Schirru said: “Ching Hwee had a really good meet and result.
“The relay if you compare with Doha, it’s different, not our best time, not the national record or anything like this. But the splits were not far off – the first two splits were close, the last two were far from what we did.
“For Johnny and Letitia, I was expecting better results, but I feel like it’s a learning curve. The bad part will be if we don’t learn anything from this.
“The result is the result, it’s done already, there is not much that we can do to change it.”
Letitia, who had hoped to make it to the semi-finals of her individual events, had earlier expressed disappointment at her times.
In the women’s 100m breaststroke, she swam 1min 07.75sec, while her national record stands at 1:06.36.
The 21-year-old then clocked 2min 29.46sec in the 200m breast, over five seconds off her national record of 2:24.15.
Tan, 22, also felt like he could have gone faster. In the men’s 50m free, he touched the wall in 22.26sec. His personal best is the national record of 21.91sec.
But Schirru noted that the Olympics are unlike any other swimming meets, saying that it was “very hard, very different, very loud, way bigger”.
The Brazilian also highlighted that while everyone comes in physically ready, what sets individuals apart at a meet like the Olympics is their mentality which often comes with more experience.
Recalling a conversation he had with Singapore Aquatics technical director Sonya Porter, he said: “She said one thing that I hadn’t realised – there is no other training for Olympics, no other competitions this size.
“It’s here that they have to have the experience, it’s how you learn, how you notice the points that you need to keep working on and improve. Getting the experience is the way to get this information and working on it.”
There was also history made as the quartet of Letitia Sim, Levenia Sim, Quah Jing Wen and Gan became the first women’s relay team to represent Singapore at the Olympics.
The spotlight had been on the team ahead of the Games due to a selection controversy involving Quah Ting Wen and Gan,
Letitia Sim in action during the women’s 4x100m medley relay.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
While it was initially tough not having her sister Ting Wen on the team, Jing Wen was proud of how the relay quartet performed in Paris.
Jing Wen, 23, said: “Obviously she’s my sister so that does hit differently but we’re all here to do a job and ultimately, this is a relay (team) that was sent.
“We’re still a team and all I had to do was focus on myself and trust my teammates to bring that same level and I think they really did.
“I’m really proud of the whole team... Circumstances like sports you really never know, it’s not going to take away from my experience.”
Amid the disappointment for Letitia, she believes her Olympic debut has provided invaluable lessons for her to take into future meets.
She said: “I learnt a lot from the environment, the crowd, my races, the pool, and overall just my mindset – how I should be handling myself throughout the races.”
