With a record of 57 gold, 58 silver, and 73 bronze medals, the 2017 Southeast Asian Games is by far the best away showing Team Singapore has delivered.
But achieving sporting excellence isn’t limited to coming in first. Displaying sportsmanship, setting new personal bests and creating Singapore sporting history are equally significant parts of the Games.
From overcoming personal adversities to shedding sweat, blood and tears, we celebrate these 23 remarkable Singaporean athletes who made their mark at the 2017 SEA Games.
Bronze: U16 Women’s Single Handed Optimist
Two years after picking up sailing, 13-year-old Radiance qualified for the national team and is 2017’s youngest SEA Games athlete.
Juggling studies and sports, the Secondary One student at Nanyang Girls High school aims to compete on the Olympic stage. But in the meantime, she’ll be catching up on homework.
Bronze: Field Hockey Women’s Team
In this SEA Games, Syaheeza displayed exemplary sportsmanship. While competing against Malaysia, the 22-year-old was clocked in a face with a hockey stick by her Malaysian counterpart.
Yet, she pressed on, dismissing the incident as “part of the game”. After the match, she even took a picture with the player.
Gold: Women’s High Jump
After retiring from High Jump in 2014, Michelle decided to make a comeback at the 2017 SEA Games.
Despite undergoing surgery for a stress fracture in her left shin, she cleared 1.83m and won Singapore’s first High Jump gold in 52 years.
Bronze: Women’s 100m, Women’s 200m
Dubbed ‘Singapore’s sprint queen’, Veronica broke the women’s national 100m record this SEA Games with a timing of 11.73s (previously 11.80s).
Though she and her teammates placed 4th out of 5th in Women’s 4x100m Relay, they smashed the national record with a mark of 44.96s—the fastest Singapore has ever gone.
Silver: Women’s 400m Hurdles
After a recent leg injury while training, Dipna’s physiotherapist advised her not to race in Kuala Lumpur. It did not help that she was down with a month-long virus in July.
Yet, she set a personal best in the Women’s 400m hurdles and broke the 43-year-old national record (55.10s to 54.18s). Her silver is Singapore’s first 400m hurdles medal since 1975.
Gold: Women’s Individual 50m Rifle Three Positions
Silver: Women’s Individual 10m Air Rifle
The veteran of six SEA Games now has her sights on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I draw parallels between shooting and life—shooting allows me to balance my life and while doing so, I’m constantly challenging myself to reach new limits,” says Jasmine.
Gold: Women’s 10m Air Rifle
When she was 11, Martina picked up her first air rifle and managed to shoot a few tens at the Safra Indoor Air Weapons Range.
Since then, the Singapore Sports School graduate never looked back. This SEA Games, Martina won her first ever individual gold medal, setting a new SEA Games record with 247.7 points.
Gold: Women’s Singles
Silver: Women’s Team, Women’s Trios 2nd Block, Women’s Doubles
Dedicating the bowling gold to her late coach, Cherie’s next aim is to be a world champion. It was a family bonding session one Chinese New Year that made Cherie fall in love with the game.
When she’s not bowling, you’ll spot her “eating minced pork noodles” if you observe her closely enough.
Bronze: Women’s Singles
Winning Singapore’s first SEA Games tennis medal in 22 years, tennis runs in Stefanie’s blood. “My entire family plays tennis, and we spent weekends playing tennis together,” says Stefanie.
The 24-year-old graduated from Texas Christian University and is an UnderArmour Brand Athlete.
Bronze: Women’s Tanding Class D (60kg-65kg)
Following in the footsteps of her older brother and sister, Suhaila has been living and breathing Silat for the past 15 years.
“I started getting interested in Silat when I watched my brother fight. That was when I knew I wanted to compete and prove that girls can fight just as well as the boys can,” says Suhaila.
Bronze: Open Water Women’s 10km
After switching from pool swimming to open water swimming just a few months ago, Chantal became the first Singaporean woman to win a medal in the 10km open water swim event.
“Open water [swimming] is more like a game. There’s race strategy involved and a lot of other factors at play—such as the weather and the wind,” says Chantal.
Gold: Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay
Silver: Women’s 100m Breaststroke, 200m Individual Medley
Bronze: Women’s 50m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke
“I remember winning my first ever medal—a silver medal, at a group meet for the 21m backstroke event and that is the exact moment I fell in love with the sport,” says Samantha.
Besides bagging medals at this year’s SEA Games, she broke two national records in the 100m breaststroke and 200m individual medley events.
Gold: Women’s 100m Butterfly, 200m Butterfly, 4x100m Medley Relay, 4x100m Freestyle Relay, 4x200m Freestyle Relay
If winning one gold medal isn’t enough, Jing Wen won five. This SEA Games has been touted as her ‘coming of age’.
Apart from clinching gold in the 100m butterfly event, the youngest of the Quah swim siblings also beat her older sister, Ting Wen, and set a new national record in the process.
Gold: Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay, 4x200m Freestyle Relay, 4x100m Medley Relay, 50m Butterfly, 100m Freestyle
Silver: Women’s 50m Freestyle
Bronze: Women’s 100m Butterfly
Winning a gold medal is impressive, but winning three gold medals in back-to-back events is phenomenal.
But what would the full-time athlete do if she wasn’t swimming? “If given the chance I would like to try to travel the world in 80 days,” says Ting Wen.
Gold: Women’s 50m Breaststroke
Coming back from a collapsed lung and injured shoulder, Roanne not only defended her 50m breaststroke title but also beat her own national and SEA games record.
“It’s definitely something that I really wanted to happen, but I wasn’t sure if it would because I was facing a lot of problems…To be here is almost like a miracle,” says Roanne.
Silver: Diving Women’s Synchronised 10m Platform, Individual Women’s 10m Platform, Diving Team Event
At 13, Freida was diagnosed with Grave’s disease. The autoimmune disorder caused her to become severely underweight. But the diver bounced back to win a full athletic scholarship at Clemson University.
Unfortunately, the women’s diving programme was abruptly cancelled. Luckily, she was able to transfer to the University of Georgia. Despite the setbacks, Freida went on to win Singapore’s first individual diving medal in 36 years.
Gold: Synchronised Swimming Team Free Routine, Swimming Duet Technical Routine, Solo Free Routine
Silver: Synchronised Swimming Duet Free Routine, Solo Technical Routine
Winner of Singapore’s first gold medal at this year’s SEA Games, Debbie is proud to proclaim she loves synchronised swimming.
“It is the perfect combination of a few of the things I love: dance, music, and the feeling of freedom and calmness being immersed in the water,” says Debbie.
Gold: Women’s Slalom, Women’s Wakeboard
Silver: Women’s Wakeboard Team
Last year, a shin bone fracture ruled Sasha out for six months. Despite being a two-time wakeboarding champion, returning to the sport meant learning the ropes all over again.
But her dedication to her craft was rewarded with a third consecutive SEA Games wakeboard gold.
Gold: Figure Skating Women’s Individual Free Skating
This year, Shu Ran became the first Team Singapore ice skater to win gold in the SEA Games.
She also became the first Singaporean to qualify for the upcoming World Figure Skating Championship.
Bronze: Rhythmic Individual All Around, Rhythmic Team
Bouncing back from dropping the ball in the 2015 SEA Games, Kah Mun’s bronze is Singapore’s first individual rhythmic gymnastics medal at the Games.
Her ‘extra effort’—sacrificing her university summer break to train for 10 hours a day, six days a week—paid off yesterday when she scored 52.900 points
Silver: Rhythmic Group—Single Apparatus (5 Hoops)
Bronze: Rhythmic Group—Mixed Apparatus (2 Ropes 3 Balls), Rhythmic Team
Standing in for teammate Lyn Yeo due to an injured her knee, Avryl had to learn and perfect the team’s routine, all within two weeks.
The hard work paid off and the rhythmic gymnastics team won the bronze in the group mixed apparatus (2 ropes, 3 balls).
Gold: Women’s Individual Foil
Before she was a fencer, Amita was an avid soccer player for JSSL Arsenal (Kids League).
In this SEA Games, Amita delivered Singapore’s first individual fencing gold medal in 26 years. She dedicated her medal to her late father who passed in a workplace accident last year.
Gold: Women’s Individual Sabre
Despite a stress fracture in her spine which left her unable to sit for long without feeling pain, Lau Ywen won gold in the women’s individual sabre event.
“My elder sister (and hero) is a wonderful fencer and she inspired me to try [fencing]”, says Yau Ywen.
Being able to represent Singapore as a top performing athlete is an achievement in itself. No matter what the result, we’re proud of and offer our congratulations to all SEA Games athletes.
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