SINGAPORE – National swimmer and multiple SEA Games gold medallist Quah Ting Wen will compete in her third Olympics in Tokyo after earning one of the universality place set aside by Fina, the sport’s international governing body.
The Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) announced on Friday (July 2) that Quah, 28, had qualified by virtue of being the highest ranked athlete based upon the Fina points table achieved by June. Her points were taken from the 50m and 100m freestyle events.
She joins her younger brother, Zheng Wen, 24, Olympic champion Joseph Schooling, 26, and open-water specialist Chantal Liew, 22, as the Republic’s swimmers who will feature at the July 23-Aug 8 Games.
Quah, who competed at the 2008 Beijing and 2016 Rio editions, said: “My training mates and I have all been trying to make the Olympic Games team since the beginning of 2019, and it has been an even longer season due to Covid, and having training be so stretched out and so inconsistent has been so taxing physically and mentally.”
“I’m really proud of how everyone pushed through and handled it as best they could, and to have so many people have really fast B cuts and all be on the edge of making the team and not qualifying is hard, and I’m disappointed that there won’t be more people going.
“That was the goal after Rio, to have more of us be there together. Whatever it is, I am proud to be able to wear the flag and represent my country in Japan and will do my best to make everyone proud.”