By Patrick Johnston
Having watched his team mates suffer a number of near podium misses in the pool, Teong Tzen Wei finally ended the run with a silver in the men’s 50 metre butterfly on Thursday (Sep 28) to secure Singapore’s first swimming medal of the Asian Games.
The final was a blistering, nerve-wracking race with Teong going stroke-for-stroke with South Korean Baek In-chul in the neighbouring lane. The Korean just touched the wall 0.05 seconds ahead to claim gold at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Park Aquatics Centre.
For Teong, his happiness at winning silver was somewhat clouded with thoughts of how close he was to winning gold.
“Mixed emotions now, but I will enjoy my moment as it has been a tough season. Tomorrow is a new day and I will look to find ways to become better because I am not satisfied.
“There is always a part of you that needs to pat yourself on the back, but there is always a person inside of you telling you you should be better. And we can all have that so that we don't become satisfied with where we are in life.”
Thoughtful and articulate, despite the rollercoaster of emotions that must have been flowing so soon after a tantalisingly close and adrenaline pumping swim, Teong’s frustrations at silver can be understood by looking back at his recent career.
Silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games was followed by three more at the SEA Games in Cambodia this year, where an injury to his elbow hampered his display. Long periods of rehabilitating work ensued, not that Teong wants it to be certified as an excuse. While a first Asiad silver is a fantastic achievement, he really wanted gold.
“I’m happy to get our first medal but very sad to be getting a silver again. I was crying a lot then (SEA Games), at least it's just smiles today.”
Breaststroke specialist Letitia Sim was on hand to congratulate Teong, despite her own frustrations following another fourth place finish.
Sim finished the women’s 200 metre breaststroke just 0.02sec behind Japan’s Runa Imai, who claimed the bronze. Sim also finished fourth in the 100 metre breaststroke and 4 x 100 mixed medley relay earlier in the meet.
“Honestly just really excited watching Tzen, he has been working really really hard for it,” said the 20-year-old.
“I watch him every day at practice, I watched him go through an injury, I watched him go through a lot of ups and downs. It was all him today, he came out, showed up, really, really excited for him.”
Sim took solace from a strong meet where she achieved a number of personal bests and national records, including shaving over half a second off the previous NR mark in Thursday’s 100 metres.
“That was a huge, huge time drop for me. I felt it was good, where I needed to be. I’ve been pushing those times in practice,” she added of her 2:26.43 time.
“I’m really excited by how I performed, the new PB, national record, all little baby steps and moving in the right direction.”
There was another fourth place finish in the pool for Singapore on Thursday, with Amanda Lim just missing the podium in the women’s 50m freestyle, the opening race of the night. Her time of 25.07 seconds, just ahead of teammate Quah Ting Wen, who came fifth.
For Lim and Quah, the frustrations were obvious.
“We know we have what it takes, but sport being sport…. You just need everything to align; luck, fate, talent, every single thing, whoever has it, it just comes down to that 24 seconds,” Lim said.
“You train day in and day out for that 24 seconds, so when we don’t do the time we want, when it counts. It's just very disappointing.”
And the 4 x 100 metre men’s freestyle relay team also touched the wall fourth in another agonisingly close finish. Mikkel Lee’s brilliant final leg helped set a new national record of 3:14.77 for the quartet but was just not quite enough to catch the Japanese team, who grabbed bronze.
Silver medallist Teong had words of encouragement for his teammates and their numerous near misses.
“We have been getting a lot of fourth position, fourth hurts way more than second. And this (silver) goes to show my team we can do it.
“Don’t give up too soon on your dreams, or whatever you want to accomplish in life, because along the road you still learn.”
The 19th Asian Games are held in Hangzhou, China from 23 September to 8 October 2023. For the latest Team Singapore coverage and news, follow Team Singapore on their social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) or visit the official Team Singapore website.