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Quah siblings talk family, future and food

SINGAPORE — Despite their spectacular showing at the 28th SEA Games, siblings Quah Ting Wen, Zheng Wen are hesitant to make a career out of swimming.

Siblings and national swimmers Quah Zheng Wen, Quah Ting Wen and Quah Jing Wen made waves at the 28th SEA Games. Photo: Goh Chiew Tong via Channel NewsAsia

Siblings and national swimmers Quah Zheng Wen, Quah Ting Wen and Quah Jing Wen made waves at the 28th SEA Games. Photo: Goh Chiew Tong via Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE — Despite their spectacular showing at the 28th SEA Games, siblings Quah Ting Wen, Zheng Wen are hesitant to make a career out of swimming.

“I wouldn’t say that swimming is a plausible career for me, because we have a highly education-oriented culture. It’s kind of impossible for anyone right now to just make your sport your career,” said Zheng Wen.

The 18-year-old was with sister Ting Wen, 22, and Jing Wen, 15 on Friday (Jun 19) for a candid chat with Channel NewsAsia, answering fan questions submitted through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

In between playful nudges, hearty laughter and inside jokes with his sisters, the Anglo-Chinese School alumnus said seriously that after the Games, he is concentrating on his swimming and aiming for the Rio 2016 Olympics, but still has plans to further his studies in university. Enlisting for National Service – which could potentially halt his training - is on the cards, but it is “definitely a hundred per cent for Rio”, he said.

Ting Wen said while it is not likely she would make swimming a full-time career as well, her eyes are nonetheless fixed on Rio and that she is taking it “one meet at a time”.

“I don’t really want to say ‘I want to make swimming my career’ because I don’t see it as a job, though I am training full-time now. I am focusing on swimming but not to the extent of making it my career,” the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) communications graduate said.

“I am not going to just swim all the time, and not do other things that I am interested in.”

Just last week, Ting Wen and Zheng Wen had spectators going wild at the SEA Games. The former set a new record in the 100m freestyle event and the latter bagged a whopping 12 medals – making him the Games’ most bemedalled athlete.

Jing Wen, meantime, clinched a surprise bronze medal in the women’s 400m individual medley, not bad for her Games debut.

LOVE FOR COMPETITIVE SWIMMING IS ‘INNATE’: TING WEN

When asked if competitive swimming was a result of parental pressure, all three siblings said no.

Ting Wen thinks the siblings’ love for competitive swimming is probably “innate”. “I knew I wanted to swim competitively when I learned the four strokes and I raced the first time when I was 10 or 11 in a small meet. It was fun, I think I did it and I did it for so long because I have been having so much fun.”

Zheng Wen called himself a “late-bloomer” as he only gained momentum in the sport when he was in Secondary Three.

“I really think that you should not let anyone force you to do anything if you are not passionate about it. I’m not saying to not listen to your parents, but I think that it is your life and you should get a hold of it.”

“We didn’t pressure her to swim, we just threw her into the water,” joked Ting Wen - when asked how Jing Wen got into the swim of things as well. Her little sister agreed, saying after her mother told her she “loved it”, after being thrown in the pool for the first time.

NO DIET FOR SWIMMING, JUST HOME COOKED FOOD: ZHENG WEN

In his last Games event Zheng Wen told Channel NewsAsia he planned to celebrate by “letting the diet go”, however he clarified that he does not really watch his food.

“People always ask whether I am on a diet, and to be honest, I really am not. But nobody really believes me when I tell them.”

His secret to a swimmer’s bod, is Mrs Quah’s home-cooked food. “I am just too lazy to go out and get my own food, so my mum just cooks for us and it tends to be on the healthier side.”

“It has come to the extent that when I eat unhealthy or outside food, I can’t eat too much because I will feel sick and not be used to it.” CHANNEL NEWSASIA

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