‘We just kept pushing to the end’: Kimberly Lim and Cecilia Low finish historic Games sailing campaign in 10th

ENOSHIMA: It’s been a journey that has taken them all across to the globe, through rough winds and sometimes stormy seas, but Kimberly Lim and Cecilia Low’s effort shone through as they recorded Singapore’s best finish in a sailing event at the Olympic Games. 

The duo, who were the first Singaporean sailors to qualify for a medal race at the Olympics, ended their Games campaign with a 10th placed overall finish in a fleet of 21 after they completed their 49er fx event medal race on Tuesday (Aug 3).

The medal race was won by Argentina, with Norway coming in second, and Brazil in third. Lim and Low, who are Asian Games champions, finished last, just behind Netherlands.

“Considering our whole week and how we started this event, we're super happy and super proud of our five year campaign - actually, more than five years. Super happy with how we ended up (at) this Olympic Games, being our debut also,” said Lim.

“It was just an amazing week, we just kept pushing to the end, especially the second half of the event.”

While the points from the medal race are worth double, points from previous races are counted into the sailors’ total score as well.

This meant that Brazil took gold, Germany silver and Netherlands bronze. 

READ: Sailing: Kimberly Lim and Cecilia Low finish 9th overall, first Singaporeans to qualify for medal race at Olympics

After the first leg of the race, Lim and Low were eighth, ahead of the teams from Great Britain and France.

While the Singaporeans reached the heights of fifth later on, they would come in 10th, just behind the bronze-winning Netherlands duo.

“First off, we knew we could have done a little bit better in this medal race. But definitely, it was a tricky one because it's not the same way we normally sail, we didn't take enough risk on the course and that showed and it didn’t really pay off for us,” said Lim.

“I think we just didn't change our mindset to fit the racing conditions. We still sailed the normal way we do and we were a bit too conservative and instead of gaining from the edge of the course, we lost out a bit in the middle,” said Low.

On Saturday, they finished ninth overall in the women's 49er FX event to make the cut for the medal race. 

Lim revealed that this had been their goal prior to the Games.

“That was our goal - to get into the medal race. We knew we had the potential to do it, we knew we prepared well enough. It was just whether we could execute it,” she said.

And the pair noted that their sacrifices have paid off. Take this year for instance, where Lim and Low have been training in Portugal since early January. They have not been home since.

“(There’s) that feeling of satisfaction, all the effort we put in, all the years we have been away like ... in Portugal and training there, all the events and basically all the time we’ve spent on it, I think it shows,” said Lim.

“I’m so glad that it showed,” chimed in Low.

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