SINGAPORE UPDATED. Singapore swimmers Arren Quek and Teo Zhen Ren are defending SEA Games champions in their respective 50m and 1500m freestyle events.But they almost didn’t make the cut for this year’s edition in Myanmar, only squeezing through with a round of appeals green-lit by the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC).
Quek, 20, could only manage a 23.84s timing at the National Swimming Championships in July, a significant dip from the 23.28s that clinched 50m freestyle gold for him at the 2011 Games.
Similarly, 19-year-old Teo’s record-breaking 15:44.32 swim in the 1500m freestyle that year fell sharply to 16:15.28 at a qualification meet in August.
So, the obvious question: what happened between 2011 and now? Answer: national service (NS).
From scratch
Speaking to Yahoo Singapore after a practice session at Toa Payoh last Saturday, Teo admitted that he stopped training for the first four months of 2013 after enlisting in NS.
“It affected me quite a bit,” said the Raffles Institution alumnus. “I had to start all the way from the bottom, and I was really right at the back of the squad when I returned.”
Teo, who is still the fastest man in Singapore over the 1500m distance, added: “It’s (been) really, really hard, but I‘ve come back all the way to my best, so I’m expecting gold.”
While he still gets a shot at defending his SEA Games title, Quek will not get the chance to. He was edged out of the 50m freestyle event by captain Russell Ong and teen prodigy Darren Lim.
Quek is due to swim in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay event instead, and was relieved to just be able to compete. “Thank God I managed to get into the SEA Games, despite NS,” he laughed.
Quek, a former Anglo-Chinese Junior College student, has been granted full pay leave by his NS unit to head to the nearly two-week long SEA Games in Myanmar.
Also receiving support from his military employers on a daily basis is Teo, who trains in the morning, books into camp, and is released early to train again in the mid-afternoon.
“I’m happy with my department for allowing me that,” he remarked. “And very lucky to be given the opportunity to still train.”
Teo and Quek both revealed that they “didn’t really try” to apply for deferment from NS, because they felt they were not on the same level as star swimmer Joseph Schooling, who in October became the first sportsman allowed to defer his conscription by a long haul.
The army will steer clear of Schooling, 18, as he trains towards the goal of a first-ever Singaporean medal at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
With five national records and timings that place him amongst the top on the planet for his pet butterfly events, the US-based ace built a strong suit for his deferment.
“Joseph had the best shot of being approved, because he’s ranked up there in the world,” said Teo. “For me, I’m somewhere off the world’s best times still.”
He added: “I think Joseph’s quite relieved to be able to defer NS. Without that, his times would definitely be affected.”
The argument for
That scenario did not unfold, however, for 2011 SEA Games 200m freestyle gold-medalist Danny Yeo.
He told Yahoo that while NS slowed him down “a bit, with some restrictions here and there”, for the most of it, the Singapore Management University undergraduate “managed to keep improving throughout the two years”.
Indeed, Yeo, 23, was fresh out of finishing NS when he broke his own national record for the 100m freestyle in June this year.
Nonetheless, he too echoed his male teammates in agreeing that deferment would “help Singapore sports grow”.
“An athlete really starts to peak when he’s about 17 to 19,” explained Ong, the oldest member of the squad at 24. “To take away two years of that time, when he should be training hard, that’s tough.”
Results matter
One young national swimmer fast approaching his peak is sprint sensation Lim, who will make his SEA Games debut on the back of highly impressive 50m freestyle times this year.
He came within 0.05s of erasing the legendary Ang Peng Siong’s decades-old record of 22.69s, leading Ong to comment that “he might be the world’s fastest 15-year-old”.
And according to his teammates, for Lim to continue his rapid ascent, it is imperative that he avoid the dreaded two-year “break” of NS.
“If Darren manages to reach the level Joseph is at now,” said Teo. “He should vie for deferment and hopefully Singapore supports it.”
Yet the swimmers themselves are aware that support can only come with stellar results, and the first to go must deliver something of worth to truly pave the way for future generations.
Good, then, that the national athletes’ confidence in their ringleader appears absolute.
Asked if Singapore could produce a world champion at the next Olympics, Yeo offered, with a wry smile: “Joseph seems pretty good. He might do Singapore proud in 2016.”
yahoo.com
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