No more fear as Singapore swimmers head to Rio

SINGAPORE — Four years ago, Quah Ting Wen’s dream of competing in the London Olympic Games alongside her younger brother, Zheng Wen, was cruelly dashed after a surfing accident in November 2011 left her with two shattered bones in her left forearm.

One would have expected the 23-year-old to be jumping with joy at news of her wildcard entry to next month’s Rio Olympic Games, but Ting Wen admitted that she was disappointed not to make the ‘A’ qualifying times for the Games.

While 11 Singaporean swimmers had made the ‘B’ times for the Olympics – including Ting Wen – none of them earned the call up from FINA this time, leaving the Republic with its smallest swimming contingent of three athletes (Joseph Schooling, Zheng Wen, Ting Wen) at the Games in over 30 years.

But Ting Wen, who made her debut at the 2008 Beijing Games, is ready to set her disappointment aside and get cracking for Rio.

“I’m kind of bummed that I didn’t make it the way I wanted to, I’m hard on myself and give myself a lot of pressure,” she said in a teleconference interview on Friday (July 15) from the team’s training camp in Paraguay.

“But that’s history now and what I can do now is focus on preparation and to see what I can do there. (National head coach) Sergio (Lopez) prepared us well and I’m excited to see what we can do in Rio.”

The six-strong swim team had spent the past two months training and competing in the United States, with just the Quah siblings traveling with head coach Sergio Lopez to Paraguay for a 20-day training camp.

Months spent training, eating and living together have brought the siblings - and their teammates – closer, and also allowed them to focus on their task ahead in three weeks’ time.

There is also a newfound belief that Team Singapore’s swimmers can mix it up with the best in the world, declared up-and-coming young swimmer Zheng Wen on Friday.

“The training and mental training undergone with Sergio and visualisation (exercises) help us believe we can be where we want to be,” said the 19-year-old.

“Over the course of the past 18 months, I’ve done a lot of racing in World Cups and Grand Prixs and raced against pretty high level athletes. It’s done me some good, racing against these guys and realising that they’re just people. It’s just something you have to get over and it will really help during Olympics.”

While Lopez, who won a bronze in the men’s 200m breaststroke for Spain at the 1988 Olympic Games, may joke about working on flamenco dance moves with the swimmers, he is serious about instilling a winning mindset in his swimmers.

“What we’re done in the last 18 months has been very good, they see swimming at high level in a different way,” he said.

“I don’t think it is a scary thought for any of them to think of getting into an Olympic final – or winning a medal. It’s not an easy task, but it’s not a scary task anymore.”

The buzz around national swimmer Joseph Schooling is also building up with less than a month to the Rio Games, as the 21-year-old – a bronze medallist at the Kazan World Championships – makes a bid to become the first Singaporean to win a swimming medal at the Olympics.

His teammates cannot wait to see him in action in Rio. Said Zheng Wen, who is aiming to qualify for the semi-final or final in Rio: “I’m excited to see how fast he swims, and I hope that he claims the first step for Singapore swimming… I’m pretty pumped to see what he can do.”

Lopez, who worked with Schooling during his time at Bolles School, is bullish about his charge’s medal chances. He said: “I think Joseph can medal in the 100m fly… When I went to the Olympics I was ninth in the world and believed I could medal but in my country they didn’t think I could win a medal.

“Joseph has proven he is the top. He was top three in the world last year, he has a chance - just like Michael Phelps, Chad le Clos, and Laszlo Cseh.”