AYG Swimming: 4x100m freestyle relay girls splash to 5th swimming gold and a new national record
Story by Colin Tung/Red Sports. Pictures by Les Tan/Red Sports.
Quah Ting Wen with her 100m freestyle gold medal. She went on to win another in the 4x100m freestyle relay later in the evening. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Singapore Sports School, Monday, July 6, 2009 – The golden quartet of Koh Hui Yu, Quah Ting Wen, Amanda Lim and Lynette Lim sealed Singapore’s 5th gold in swimming with their win in the 4x100m freestyle relay in a time of 3 minutes 46.91 seconds.
Lynette touched home ahead of South Korea, who finished second in 3:50.56, and China, who clocked 3:51.34. The girls’ sensational swim smashed the old national record of 3:53.33 set in 2006 at the Asian Games in Doha by Ho Shu Yong, Tao Li, Mylene Ong and Lynette Ng.
As the Singapore girls were introduced before the commencement of the final, the crowd broke into rapturous applause and cheers. And the girls lapped up all the attention with Hui Yu and Lynette striking the famous ‘Bolt’ pose, and Ting Wen and Amanda flexing their biceps.
The team was expected to splash to a win in the final event of the competition after clocking the fastest qualifying time of 3:53.99 – over four seconds faster than Korea, who had qualified second.
Hui Yu took the starting blocks for Singapore and put the team in good position to win as she finished her leg in second place behind Korea. Ting Wen jumped in and then obliterated the rest of the field to take the lead. By the time she touched the wall for Amanda’s turn, she had established an approximate three-body length lead.
With such a comfortable lead, there was no way the girls could lose it in front of such a vociferous crowd who were on their feet egging them on. Amanda and Lynette continued their race against the clock while maintaining Singapore’s lead and subsequently, romped home to a new national record. The quartet clocked individual leg times of 58.18s, 55.38s, 55.96s and 57.39s respectively.
It was a fitting way to end the swimming competition for Singapore and Ting Wen was quite clear which of the two medals on the night meant more to her.
“The relay gold means more to me. I’ve always liked the relays where all the swimmers come together,” she said.
When asked about how she felt being the most successful Singaporean athlete at the Asian Youth Games, she said: “It feels good. I’ve exceeded my expectations with four golds. I feel proud for Singapore.”
While the relay gold was Ting Wen’s fourth, for 14-year-old Hui Yu (her birthday falls on March 14), Singapore’s youngest gold medallist at the 1st Asian Youth Games, it was her first of any kind. Hui Yu blushed as she said, “I feel really happy. I’m excited to get a medal and I didn’t expect the national record to come with it. I feel lucky to be part of this team.”
One could sense Hui Yu’s delight at the win, and with the other three swimmers in the relay team already relatively established with their own individual national records, this achievement could perhaps be the impetus to spur her on to greater heights.
She added, “I am looking at this year’s SEA Games and some day, the Olympics. Ting Wen inspires me. She’s fast in the freestyle and the individual medley events and I do those events as well.”
With that, the Singapore team wrapped up the swimming competition with a bang having garnered five golds, two silvers and five bronzes. They had earlier started the evening in the same manner in the girls’ 100m freestyle race that pit Ting Wen and Amanda against each other again, after they had finished 1-2 in the 50m freestyle event.
Swimming in lanes 3 and 5 respectively, Kim Junghye of Korea stood between them in lane 4 with the fastest qualifying time of 57.51s out of the heats. As the buzzer sounded the start of the race though, it was Ting Wen and Amanda who were fastest off the blocks in 0.67s and 0.71s respectively.
At the end, it was not Kim Junghye but 0.67s which separated Ting Wen and Amanda as the latter once again played bridesmaid. Ting Wen won in 55.57s while Amanda clocked 56.24. Kim Junghye finished third in 56.39s.
In other events, Clement Lim clocked 52.47s to place fifth in the boys’ 100m freestyle final. The event was won by Lum Ching Tat of Hong Kong in 50.48s. Silver and bronze medals went to Althuwaini Abdullah of Kuwait and Dsouza Aaron Agnel of India in times of 51.28s and 51.52 respectively.
In the girls’ 200m breaststroke final, Cheryl Lim clocked 2:45.63 to place seventh. The event was won by Litvina Yuliya of Kazakhstan in a time of 2:35.13. Yvette Kong of Hong Kong and Wang Chang of China got the silver and bronze medals in times of 2:35.24 and 2:36.38 respectively.
In the boys’ 200m breaststroke final, Lionel Khoo clocked 2:26.26 to place sixth. The winner was Ketin Nuttapong of Thailand in a time of 2:17.25 as Gil Byeong Hwi and Jung Wonyong, both of Korea, picked up the silver and bronze medals in times of 2:18.28 and 2:20.90 respectively.
Singapore had two representatives in the girls’ 50m backstroke event. Adeline Winata and Deborah Chua finished in sixth and eighth positions in times of 31.31s and 32.28s respectively.
Lastly, in the boys’ 50m backstroke event, Rainer Ng missed out on a podium finish in finishing fourth with a time of 27.24s. Chung Lai Yeung of Hong Kong pipped Rainer by an agonising 0.05s to take the bronze in a time of 27.19s. The winner of the event was Althuwaini Abdullah of Kuwait, second earlier in the 100m freestyle, in 26.45s with Baimanov Ruslan trailing him in second place in 27.16s.
As the swimmers posed for team pictures after the conclusion of the meet, those who were in attendance can say they witnessed the coronation of Singapore’s latest generation of swim queens.
Ting Wen enters the watery realm at the start of the 100m freestyle. (Photo 2 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
The 1-2 finish by Ting Wen and Amanda ensures Singapore’s flag flies high and the Majulah Singapura is sung. (Photo 3 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Hui Yu on her way to a PB of 58.18 in the first leg of the 4x100m freestyle relay. (Photo 4 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Amanda dives in for the third leg. She kept the lead for the Singapore team with a split of 55.96s. (Photo 5 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Lynette with a huge lead in the anchor leg that she was never in any danger of losing. (Photo 6 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
The girls share a group hug after the race which they won in 3 minutes 46.91 seconds. (Photo 7 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
The girls contemplate their achievement as they see the national flag raised. From left to right: Koh Hui Yu, Quah Ting Wen, Amanda Lim and Lynette Lim. (Photo 8 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Han
I agree Junwei… To me, the spirit of sports is not just about winning… And it’s not easy to list down 10 moments.
All the young athletes have done well and I hope Singaporeans will support them.
My kids and I watched the match played by Isabelle and it was a great game! Her fighting spirit is something which I admire!
WW
Les,
Thanks for the explanation. No doubt that Red Sports had better coverage than The Straits Times and New Paper. Keep up the good work.
Les
@WW: Thanks, WW. : )
Les
@WW.
Thanks for your comment.
There are two issues which you have raised – coverage of athletics and great moments.
For coverage of athletics, please see this post: http://redsports.sg/2009/07/12/ayg-stories-crew/
It will show that the Red Sports gave quite a bit of coverage for athletics.
As for great moments, the list above is a personal opinion of the writers.
Readers will obviously have their own highlight moments and we welcome them to list their own.
I doubt there will be a list of top 10 that everyone will agree with.
WW
What happen to the coverage of Athletics? No great moment? If you were at the stadium watching medal winning events i.e. Boy 100m, Girl 100 hurdles etc, your heart would be poping. 3 highlights for Swimming and 0 for Athletics.
njngk
yea where’s shahrir?
Les
@ice – we agree about your point with regards to the coverage for football. Hence this article:
http://redsports.sg/2009/07/10/basketball-football-ayg/
But not sure why this list is “funny”. It highlights a moment of individual football brilliance. The other 9 highlights have nothing to do with football.
Also, the REDcrew have written a total of 64 stories on the AYG covering the different sports that Singapore athletes have been involved in.
You can take a quick browse of the AYG stories we wrote to confirm it. It’s not just about football.
http://redsports.sg/category/asian-youth-games/
jan
Thanks Kar Teck, Jun Wei. : )
I guess from a post like this, it reveals to us whether sports readers in Singapore have matured in their perception of “sports”.
We asked, “Were they a moment for you too?” – clearly this post is not about imposing/asserting our views but just a sharing. : )
Sporting moments are fundamentally an exemplification of the ‘soul’ of a sport, a team, an individual – what stays on after the hype wears off.
Lynette may have broken her own 400m record and got a gold and swam a beautiful victory – but for her, a freestyle specialist, to brave the outrageous butterfly leg in the 4×100 medley relay and win the bronze, that is a moment I know I will remember Lynette for.
Hanafi was singled out precisely because despite the disappointment of the football team, but when Hanafi found the net – I will not deny that for a moment I thought Singapore might win. And if that thought hit you, too, then that was already a moment for you.
Victories are temporal, moments are eternal – thank you. : )
Kar-teck Yeo
@marissab @Emmanuel @ice
I truly believe this list is entirely the opinion of the writer.
Agree with @junwei – instead of keep on asking who is not on this list, why don’t everyone who has a better opinion list their own top 10 moments? Trust me it’s not easy.
junwei
This post is about the Singapore moments for us. It need not necessarily have to be a moment where a medal was won. If that is the case then basketball should not be up there. But do the fans think that they have not fought hard and deserved credit?
Yes the Singapore football team might not have delivered but certainly seeing them score against a mightier Iran was definitely a moment for us. Watching Isabelle lose out to her North Korean opponent in that close 7-set match was definitely a memorable moment, and seeing her on the brink of tears was definitely a Singapore moment for me though she might not have won a medal. The fighting spirit and emotion put in was definitely one she can be proud of.
So @marrissab, why not you put up your 10 Singapore moments. If all you care about are the gold medal winners then you are not showing respect to the other athletes who have put in their all and unfortunately lost out on a medal.
ice
What a funny list. I do not understand why football is always praised to the skies. Crash out in the group stages? Get full coverage in the papers. Win only a SEA Games bronze? Full coverage in the papers. People have to realise our footballers do not deliver, on any stages, regional or international. When you give football so much attention, have you ever thought of our athletes in other sports who work equally hard and actually have results to show for it? Yet they always get one-liner mention in the papers while football hog the limelight.
You can argue that the footballers train hard. But ALL our athletes train hard, yet somehow they dont get the attention they deserve
Emmanuel
Where is Shahrir?
hyn
Isabelle showed great sportsmanship and perseverance in her game with the Korean and she deserves to be recognized for she has brought out the spirit of sports. the paddlers have been training extremely hard for the AYG and YOG. So they deserve due recognition for their efforts and perseverance. Please show respect for their efforts:D
marissab
You have all the gold medallists’ moments up there, except Lynette Lim’s 400 free win? Come on, show some respect. Football and table tennis for their complete lack of results somehow get on this list, but a gold medallist isnt.
123
isabelle rocks la!