http://news.insing.com/tabloid/four-years-sacrifice-olympics-singapore/id-68593f00
Singapore’s Lim Heem Wei would be the first to admit that, at 23, she is an ancient gymnast. Every single one of her contemporaries has retired in a sport where you peak at 17 or 18.
Heem Wei stands at 4 feet 11 in her socks, is ‘cutely’ attractive, well-spoken and extremely polite. But underneath this reserved exterior resides an iron will. She has had so many injuries that her long-time consultant, Dr Cormac Muircheartaigh, described her to me as ’bionic’.
At the age of 18, when she led Singapore to team gold at the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand, Heem Wei was expected to announce her retirement. After a decade where she had been unable to develop any real friendships outside the sport, or enjoy a normal life, it was time to make the transition.
However, the decision that Heem Wei made that that night was surprising. Not only was she going for another two-year SEA Games cycle, she was also going to aim for the Commonwealth and Asian Games three-and-a-half years later. An extension of that commitment was that Heem Wei became the first ever Singaporean gymnast to qualify for the Olympics.
Over the weeks I learned that this kind of single-minded determination was the rule rather than the exception. I have spent the last four months talking to 30 Olympic bound athletes from all over Southeast Asia and India for a documentary on ESPN called ‘Living the Dream’.
The one crucial strain of DNA that they all shared, which cuts across every culture and creed is an ability to sacrifice everything to overcome every hurdle that came their way ― be it injury, loneliness, a fellow competitor or even tragedy.
Singapore’s Feng Tianwei tells a tear-jerking story about how her parents in Harbin sacrificed everything to help her succeed in table tennis. Her career very nearly finished before it started when her father died back in 2002.
Feng was only 16, and was very close to him, but she still managed to qualify for the China B squad, and a few months after that was called up to the National team. But almost immediately she was struck down with a mystery illness. It was, according to a friend, because ‘she missed her father too much.’ She left China in 2005 to play in the Japanese Professional League and a year later she was spotted by a Singapore coach. The rest, as they say, is history.
Swimming medal hopeful Joseph Schooling had to make the decision at 14 to leave everything near and dear by moving nearly 17 thousand kilometres from his home in Singapore to Jacksonville, Florida, in order to train for his sport. He has had to learn a whole new way of life, and experienced the loneliness that goes with it. His mother said she was emotional about the decision, and initially objected but finally relented as Joseph was so focused about swimming and what he wanted.
And this sacrifice has already paid off ― Joseph’s time of one minute 56.67 seconds in the 200-metres butterfly has only been bested by one other 16 year old since records began ― Michael Phelps.
I would encourage you to look out for these inspiring Singapore athletes, as well as the others from Team Singapore, as they strive to shine in their day in the sun, because the sacrifices and hard work that they put in to even get to the Olympics will take your breath away.
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