SEA Games: Soh goes on wild ride as she bags Singapore’s first gold medal

KUALA LUMPUR – The radiant smile on Debbie Soh’s face dimmed a little as her initial score of 73.3333 for the synchronised swimming solo free routine was announced at the National Aquatic Centre at Bukit Jalil.

With six other swimmers still to go, the 19-year-old knew she needed to do better in order to claim gold. 

But disappointment quickly turned into delight just moments later, as a corrected score of 75.0000 flashed on the scoreboard of the arena. 

She had to sit and wait anxiously through another six routines – including home favourite Lee Yhing Huey – but 75.0000, and her routine swum to the French tune “Formidable”, was good enough to clinch Singapore’s first gold at the 29th SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday (Aug 18). 

Awarded 22.3000 for execution, 30.0000 for artistic impression and 22.7000 for difficulty, Soh outscored the Malaysian in all three areas to earn the gold.

Lee – who won a gold medal in the duet in 2015 – had to settle for silver with her score of 74.7000, while teammate Miya Yong claimed the bronze in 73.0333. 

Hugging her coach Maryna Tsimashenka, some tears were shed as Soh finally allowed herself to celebrate a little after months of intense preparations and competitions for the regional Games. 

“I am very delighted and happy to win Singapore’s first gold medal…To know that our hard work paid off means a lot to us, as well as to the people supporting us.

“Since I was the second swimmer to swim, with my rivals behind me, I was quite nervous to know my score. They actually announced my score wrongly the first time so I was a bit shocked. I was a bit more hopeful after they corrected my score but I couldn’t get my hopes too high. 

“It was an emotional rollercoaster…After winning the gold, after hearing the score the first one to hug me was my coach and we cried a little because we were under a lot of pressure and I was very nervous!”

Team Singapore’s synchronised swimmers had upset traditional South-east Asian powerhouse Malaysia at the 2015 SEA Games by winning two out of three gold medals on offer, and their quest for a clean sweep of all five gold medals this month was boosted by their performance at last month’s Fina world championships in Budapest, where they beat their arch-rivals in four events. 

However, a visit to the Tiger’s den this time was always going to be an intimidating challenge for the athletes.

Soh and Miya, however, refused to be cowed despite the crowd’s voracious cheers for Malaysians Lee and Foong Yan Nie. 

“Two years ago we actually had the home ground advantage so coming here, I kept it in the back of mind how much home ground advantage and support from the crowd might affect our performance. 

“It is very satisfying to be able to win a medal, especially if it’s a gold medal because two years ago, on our home ground we won two gold medals for the SEA Games so being able to retain our title and win gold again here is quite gratifying.” 

While disappointed to lose the gold on home soil, Lee vowed to reclaim the Malaysian Tigers’ lost pride when she returns to the pool with new partner Gan Hua Wei for the technical duet on Thursday night.

They will come up against Singaporean duo Soh and Miya in the contest, and Lee said: “It’s definitely disappointing as everyone wants to get gold. She (Soh) has improved so much, and so did everyone else. She improved slightly more than me.  

“I have to put this aside and work even harder with my partner…I was trying to take in the cheers from my Malaysians and think about that as motivation.”

However, the Republic’s quest to sweep all five gold medals was thwarted by Malaysia on Thursday night, as Gan Hua Wei pipped Soh in the solo technical routine. Gan scored 73.8386 (22.1000 execution, 22.9000 for impression, 28.8386 for elements). Soh scored 73.8253, while teammate Yong picked up her second bronze with 72.3769. 

Soh’s narrow loss did not go down well with Tsimashenka though. When asked if she felt the judges’ scoring was fair, she said: “No. Maybe for artistic both girls can compare, but technically (solo technical routine) Debbie is much stronger.”

“But we will not appeal. Tomorrow we will try and show how strong Singapore is.”

The draw had also seen Soh and the team placed in second position for most of their events. Synchronised swimmers prefer to compete after their rivals to gauge their performance, and tweak their routines to try to improve their scores. 

Soh, who was drawn second for both events on Thursday, said: “That kind of shocked me as it seemed quite coincidental.

“Our scores (solo technical) were uncomfortably close. At the world championships, there was a 1.5 point difference between us but 0.01 is too close. 

“But I will take this experience and improve what I can to my advantage (for my other events).”