Swimming: Singapore women's 4x100m medley squad finish 14th at Paris Olympics

PARIS: It may not have set a new national record or gotten them into the final, but for Singapore's 4x100m medley relay squad at the Paris Olympics, it was still a swim that will, in the words of Letitia Sim, open "new chapters".

At the La Defense Arena on Saturday (Aug 3), Sim, her younger sister Levenia Sim, Quah Jing Wen and Gan Ching Hwee combined to clock a time of 4:05.58 and finish seventh in their heat, and 14th overall. The top eight moved on to the final of the event.

"It's a historical event for us, that's what our coaches said right before we went off. And it was just kind of different hearing that," said Letitia. "I just didn't realise it until he said it."

This was the first time a swimming relay team had qualified to represent Singapore at the Games on merit.

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"Overall, I'm really proud and just excited for what's ahead of us and Team Singapore," she added.

It has been a stellar meet for Gan, who competed in the 800m and 1,500m freestyle events, setting national records in both. The relay, she said, had been the most "challenging" race of them all.

"It's something really different from what I'm used to, the distance events and then coming down to 100m which is almost one-tenth of the races I've swum," she explained.

"I really needed to trust in myself, trust in my training ... quite pleased with my results and very happy that our team came together, and we produced pretty good results."

DEALING WITH THE NOISE

Some noise had surrounded the build-up to the Games for the relay team following a selection saga that saw Gan replace Quah Ting Wen.

Quah, along with the Sim sisters and her sister Quah Jing Wen, had earlier this year led Singapore to qualification for the event. The quartet did this by swimming to a ninth-place finish at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha in February. 

However, to send a relay team to Paris, the team had to meet the World Aquatics requirement of having a maximum of two relay-only swimmers. 

At the time, of the four swimmers, only Letitia had met an Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), or "A" cut, with her achievement in the 100m breaststroke giving her a direct path to Paris.

This left Singapore with three relay-only swimmers – the Quah sisters and Levenia – one over the limit. World Aquatics had then granted Singapore one extra relay-only slot on an "exceptional basis". 

However, World Aquatics later offered Gan an invitation to participate in the women’s 1,500m freestyle based on her having met the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT) – or "B" cut – for the event with a swim of 16:10.61 in June.

Singapore Aquatics said that it had decided to send Gan to the Olympics based on selection criteria that had been in force since June 2023. 

For debutant Jing Wen, it would have been "special" to make her debut alongside her older sister, who was in the stands with her parents and brother Zheng Wen on Saturday.

"That's life. You never know, you really never know. And it's not going to take away from my experience," she said.

"She's my sister so that does hit differently, but we are all here to do a job. Ultimately, this was the relay that was sent and we're still a team.

"All I had to do was to focus on myself and my teammates to bring that same level and I think they really did and I'm really proud of the whole team."