SEA Games 2025: Head coach Gary Tan satisfied with 19-gold haul as S’pore swimming enters ‘transition’
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Singapore national swimming coach Gary Tan is satisfied with the team's 19-gold haul at the SEA Games.
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
Follow topic:
- Singapore's swimmers dominated the SEA Games, securing 19 golds, but head coach Gary Tan noted a slow start and the need to rebuild for future competitions.
- Tan highlighted emerging talent like Letitia Sim, Gan Ching Hwee and Mikkel Lee.
- He aims to address gaps by reassessing and tweaking the system, fostering junior talent with support from stakeholders to maintain medal count in 2027.
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BANGKOK – As Singapore’s swimmers ended their SEA Games campaign by winning five out of seven races on the final night to take their tally to 19 golds, eight silvers and seven bronzes, they celebrated by singing: “We have won the war one more time.”
While they topped the medal tally for an 11th consecutive edition, they would do well to learn from the slow start in Bangkok, with just seven golds from the first 19 events, and not be complacent as they enter a “transition” phase going into the 2027 edition in Malaysia to rebuild for the 2029 home Games.
National swimming head coach and performance director Gary Tan, 43, gave an assurance that there will be youngsters coming through to replace the veterans, who are in the twilight of their careers.
He cited five-gold Letitia Sim three-gold Gan Ching Hwee
He also paid tribute to warhorses like Teong Tzen Wei and siblings Quah Ting Wen
According to Singapore Aquatics, the swimmers racked up five national records, 10 meet records and 17 personals bests, compared to six, five and 13 respectively in 2023, when they won 22 golds.
Tan told The Straits Times: “I’m really proud of how the athletes ended the meet. It showed true resilience and it makes me really proud of them.
“We started a bit slower, but that is how the sport is. It is cruel, but we worked through it.
“Yes, 19 may not seem as much as 22 or 23, but it’s how we dealt with that 19 and how we came to that 19 as well. This is a transition we need to go through.
“It’s always cyclical, but how do we break those cycles from things going down south? It’s really about that system that we are continuing to build, and this is a turning point.
“So, I’m absolutely satisfied not just about the medal count, but also with the way this team conducted themselves.”
At the Huamark Aquatic Center, their winning streaks ended in five events – the men’s 100m backstroke and women’s 100m freestyle, 200m butterfly and, more worryingly, the women’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays.
The men’s team still look strong. Besides Lee’s coming of age and Zheng Wen and Teong’s resurgence, this meet has also seen the emergence of Chan Chun Ho, 21, and distance swimmer Russel Pang, 15, who set national records in the men’s 50m breaststroke and 1,500m freestyle respectively.
The women’s team, meanwhile, look shaky in the sprints with Amanda Lim retiring
Regional rivals have also strengthened, with the Filipinos bringing in the likes of Olympic medallist Kayla Sanchez, who used to swim for Canada, while Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia have made strides, especially in the longer distances.
Acknowledging the shortcomings, Tan said: “We cannot control or underestimate the external factors, neither could we predict who else will be swimming well. We just kept our heads down and worked through every single event.
“There will always be gaps... we just need to make sure that we understand what those gaps are... then come back a lot better to make sure that the system is more foolproof going into the future.”
He cited young ones such as Julia Yeo, who turns 15 on Dec 27 and set a women’s 200m backstroke record and contributed to the 4x100m medley meet record, 15-year-old Victoria Lim, who had a women’s 800m freestyle personal best, and Pang as ones to watch for the future.
He added: “We are going to have a lot of juniors coming through. We are not lacking right now. We are building it up in our system within the National Training Centres as well as some of our top clubs.
“With the help of our stakeholders like Sport Singapore and Singapore National Olympic Council, I hope this will give us that boost of confidence to be able to push through more swimmers into the system to make sure that they make major Games. Hopefully, by 2027, the medal count will still stick around the same number.”
