Women’s Swimming Relay Team Wins Singapore’s 1,000th SEA Games Gold Medal
The 2023 SEA Games is now in full swing, and as always, Singapore is hopeful of clinching a number of golds.
We won our first medal at the Games on Saturday (6 May) morning, but more was to come.
Hours later, Singapore got our 1,000th gold medal at the SEA Games.
Source: Singapore National Olympic Council on Facebook
It was clinched by our women’s swimming relay team.
Women’s swimmers come in 1st in 4x100m freestyle relay
On the second day of the 32nd SEA Games held in Cambodia, Singapore swimmers Quah Ting Wen, Nur Marina Chan, Quah Jing Wen and Amanda Lim were in action.
According to a Facebook post by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, they participated in the Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay event.
Source: Edwin Tong on Facebook
Facing up against local rivals like Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, the Singaporeans blew their competition out of the water, coming in first with a time of 3 minutes and 44.29 seconds.
Source: Tan Chuan-Jin on Facebook
The Philippines and Thailand came in second and third, respectively.
Gold medal is Singapore’s 1,000th at SEA Games
The gold medal won by the ladies was extra significant as it was Singapore’s 1,000th gold medal at the SEA Games, said Mr Tong.
Source: Singapore National Olympic Council on Facebook
The achievement comes 64 years after our first gold at the 1959 Games, when Tan Eng Yoon finished first in the Men’s 400m hurdles.
Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) president Tan Chuan-Jin told The Straits Times (ST) that this was a “significant milestone”, adding,
This is testament to Team Singapore’s consistency on the South-east Asian stage since 1959 and the support and efforts invested in Singapore sports.
In a Facebook post, he congratulated the swimmers for their “wonderful swim”, saying they “stand on the shoulders of giants”.
Gold rush for Singapore at SEA Games
The ladies’ medals weren’t the only golds won by Singapore on Saturday (6 May).
We entered the day on 995 golds when Bryce Chong won a bronze in the aquathlon men’s individual final — our first medal at this year’s Games.
Jiu-jitsu exponent Noah Lim then snagged our first gold of the Games and 996th overall, at the men’s under-69kg finals.
Source: SNOC on Facebook
Quah Jing Wen snagged our 997th in the women’s 200m butterfly final, and the 998th was courtesy of Jonathan Tan in the men’s 100m freestyle.
Source: Team Singapore on Facebook
Quah Zheng Wen came in first in the 100m backstroke, retaining his title and putting us on gold No. 999.
All of a sudden, No. 1000 was on the table, and Quah Ting Wen told ST that she realised this as soon as her younger brother got the gold.
She said it made her “a little more excited and a little more nervous”, but it seemed they had nothing to worry about.
They duly delivered the historic gold, with Ting Wen saying it was “a huge honour” for the four of them.
Congrats to the athletes for the stunning results and to all the Singaporeans who’ve contributed to this over the years. May the gold rush continue.
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Featured image adapted from SNOC on Facebook.
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