Not the best result, but Singapore swimmer Jonathan Tan aims for 2028 Olympics
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National swimmer Jonathan Tan competed in the men's 50m and 100m freestyle events at the Paris Olympics.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
PARIS – It may not have been the Olympic debut that national swimmer Jonathan Tan had hoped for, but the Paris Games will be one to remember for the freestyle specialist.
His Olympic campaign concluded on Aug 1 as he placed 32nd out of 73 swimmers in the 50m freestyle heats after clocking 22.26 seconds at the Paris La Defense Arena, missing out on a place in the 16-strong semi-finals. Australian Cameron McEvoy was first in the heats with a time of 21.32sec.
Tan’s personal best in the event is the national record of 21.91sec, which qualified him for the Paris Games.
On July 31, he swam his first race at the Olympics in the 100m free, touching home in 49.60sec to finish 25th among 37 athletes.
Reflecting on his campaign, he said: “I definitely wanted to go faster, that was not the time I was wishing for. That was the best I could do today, I’ve got to go back and work.
“I’m not sure why I’m going at these times, I’ve just got to go back, analyse my race and see what went wrong.”
But the 22-year-old still enjoyed his first taste of Olympic racing, noting that it has been the biggest crowd and arena that he has competed in.
He will be hoping to build on this experience after achieving his dream of making it to the Olympics and hopes to “be more of a competitor” in Los Angeles 2028.
He plans to take a short break before the school semester begins at Stanford University. Other major meets that are on the cards include the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore and SEA Games in Thailand.
When asked about the highlights in Paris, he said: “Basically racing in this atmosphere and environment where everyone’s so loud, everyone’s fast.
“It’s been a good experience – it is a bad race but there’s a lot of things for me to learn from and hopefully I can come back stronger for the next one.”
Singapore’s swimmers will be involved in two more events at the Paris Games. Gan Ching Hwee, who broke her women’s 1,500m free national mark on July 31, will compete in the 800m free on Aug 2, before linking up with teammates Letitia Sim, Levenia Sim and Quah Jing Wen for the women’s 4x100m medley relay the day after.
