The 22-year-old faced insurmountable odds in her journey as a swimmer. But the resilient open water swimmer is now the first ever in her sport to represent Singapore at the Olympics.
Photo Credit: Waiting For Tokyo Film
When Chantal Liew competes in open water swimming, she faces the risk of getting stung by jellyfish or being kicked in the face. Adding to that are other unpredictable variables such as strong water currents and extreme temperatures.
And yet, the biggest challenges in her journey to the Olympics have come outside the water. From overcoming burnout, to paying $4,000 in fees, to training amid the pandemic, the odds were stacked against her.
Her First SEA Games
At the age of 17, Chantal qualified for her first SEA Games after three years of formal swim training at Singapore Sports School.
At the qualifiers, she performed better than she had expected.
“I absolutely smashed my personal best by four or five seconds,” she said. “I was so far in front of the field and that put me as a medal contender.”
But the outcome at the eventual SEA Games did not go according to Chantal’s plans. “I didn’t swim well,” she said. “I was very young and I put a lot of pressure on myself.”
She came in last for her event – the 200m backstroke, and the loss devastated her.
“Ever since then, I was very scared to swim the 200 metres backstroke. At every competition, I would talk myself out of it,” she said. “Even before I jumped in, I had a lot of negative self-talk.”
Two years later, Chantal had a shot at redemption at the 2017 SEA Games qualifiers. “In Singapore, once you qualify for your first SEA Games, it’s sort of an unspoken expectation that you qualify for your second,” Chantal said.
But at the qualifiers, her campaign got off to an inauspicious start when she swam poorly in the 50m and 200m race. Her final qualifying event was the 100m backstroke.
“I was really counting on that race because even if I came in second, I would still go as a relay reserve at least,” she said. “I came in third. And I got out of the pool and I just sat there and cried. That for me was rock bottom.”
Finding Stability in Open Water Swimming
Despite the results, Chantal held on to the last glimmer of hope to represent Singapore at the 2017 SEA Games. A week after the backstroke qualifiers, there was an opportunity to compete at the SEA Games Open Water Swim.
“I’ve always done distance training. So I thought ‘why not just give it a shot?’,” she said.
Not only did Chantal qualify for the event, she earned a silver medal. “It was a huge win that I hadn’t experienced since 2014,” she said. “It was like a sigh of relief, a breath of fresh air in the open water.”
Photo credit: Waiting For Tokyo Film
Prior to her switch to open water swimming, she was obsessed with the idea of being in control of every element in a race. “So before a swim, I would ask my coach, ‘What am I going to do for the first 25 metres? What about the second 25 metres?’,” she said.
Now, despite the unpredictable nature of open water swimming, Chantal has found more stability through it. “In open water, there’s absolutely no control. Even more so than pool swimming.
“I started to learn how to let go, to just enjoy the race and enjoy the process. I started to think on my feet more than trying to memorize exactly what I had to do,” she said.
Open water swimming allowed Chantal to regain her love for competitive swimming. “I had a lot of fun training for the open water,” she said. “It was really healthy mentally because I was going through a very rough time with my backstroke performance.”
The Road to Tokyo
“Whereas for open water swimming at the Olympics, which is the 10km, it’s not well-developed at all,” said Chantal.
In Singapore, the open water swimming scene is not well-established. There was no dedicated open water swimming coach. “Singapore’s triathletes do a lot of open water swimming. But it’s only for 800 meters or at most 1,500 meters.
“I would say that I’m one of the first few who pioneered open water swimming in Singapore and brought a little more recognition to the sport,” she added.
Source: Waiting For Tokyo Film.
In order to prepare herself adequately, Chantal forked out approximately $4,000 from her savings to attend a one-month training camp in Australia.
“It was with a pure open water squad with an open water coach that has previously coached a bunch of people to the Olympics,” Chantal shared.
“Coming off that trip, I had learnt so much. In Australia, they race every weekend. I managed to squeeze in three races there and my racing style completely changed.”
Chantal believes that the trip was worth the money as she built strong friendships with fellow open water swimmers and her coach. “The coach that I trained under was really amazing,” she said. “He maintained close contact with my coach back in Singapore and they worked out a great program for me.”
Returning to Singapore, Chantal continued the training programme with an existing distance training coach at the National Training Centre, Marcus Cheah.
Her stellar performance in Doha at the FINA Marathon Swim World Series 2020 further boosted her confidence. “After seeing what I was able to do, knowing how to position myself, and having the experience, I was feeling really confident and really good,” she said.
She found herself one step closer to qualifying for the Olympics. To get the golden ticket, Chantal needed to beat Hong Kong competitor Nip Tsz Yin at the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier 2020, scheduled for 30 May.
However, like athletes around the world, her momentum was abruptly disrupted by the pandemic. On 7 Apr 2020, Singapore went into Circuit Breaker, closing all sporting facilities, including swimming pools.
For Chantal, that meant a pause to her swim training which caused her to lose the aerobic fitness she had been training long hours to build up. Instead, she could only work on strength training from home, while nervously monitoring her competition.
“At that point in time, I think Hong Kong still had their pools open. So I was very scared of losing out to her. That was the only thing on my mind,” she said.
The Pinnacle of Sports
A year later, with the Olympics confirmed to be happening from July to August 2021, qualifying games soon resumed.
In her return to training, Chantal faced some new challenges due to her time away from the water. “My body changed and that has been the biggest struggle for me. I’ve to deal with injuries that I haven’t dealt with before. Shoulder problems, neck problems, back problems,” she said.
Even with these challenges, Chantal remained optimistic and focused. “I’m glad that I managed to keep my opponent in my sights the whole time,” she said. “Coming back into the pool, I have that clear goal and it’s been kind of easy to pick up from there.”
On 19 June, Chantal competed at the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier in Portugal.
She came in approximately two minutes faster than her Hong Kong rival Tsz Yin and secured the only remaining Asian continental quota spot. She is the first open water swimmer to represent Singapore at the Olympics.
Video credit: Marcus Cheah
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Chantal plans to retire after the Games, a move she attributes to avoid being consumed by the sport. Instead, she intends to end her career on a high note and move on to a life outside swimming.
Her End Goal
But she would also take any opportunity to give back to the sport. “I would love to mentor some of these younger swimmers. I hope that they will be inspired by me to try out open water swimming,” she said.
For now, her goal at the Tokyo Olympics is to put on the best performance she possibly can. “It’s going to be my last race as a high performing athlete,” she said.
“I just want to make myself proud and have fun.”
Written by Edwin Chan
Also see:
Waiting For Tokyo follows four Singaporean athletes in pursuit of a common goal – qualifying for their first Olympic Games. Amid the pandemic, they reflect on their Olympic dreams, and the obsession and sacrifice necessary to make it as an athlete.
Featuring: Martina Veloso Chantal Liew Mark & Timothy Lee
More about the documentary: https://waitingfortokyofilm.com/