At the Asian Games, finishing fourth hurts for Singapore’s swimmers, but bodes well for future

HANGZHOU: In the end, the years of labour are often distilled to the most minuscule of margins: A touch, a fingernail, or a hundredth of a second.

National records may ease the pain, but disappointment lingers. Finishing fourth isn’t easy. 

Ask Jonathan Tan: Fourth in the men’s 50m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle relay and the mixed 4x100m relay. 

“It definitely hurts,” said the affable swimmer on Thursday (Sep 28). Tan concluded his Asian Games with two national records in the relays.

Ask Letitia Sim, who on Wednesday missed out on a podium spot in the 100m breaststroke by 0.12s. A day later, she would come even closer, as bronze in the 200m breaststroke evaded her by 0.02s.

Sim set four national records at the Games, but had hoped for a medal.

“It definitely stung a little bit,” she said. “When I saw fourth I was like: ‘Wow ... I think it was like two one-hundreds or something like that.”

Watching on was head coach Gary Tan, who later told reporters it was an emotional race for him.

“I teared a bit for her because I know the pain that she has gone through, just missing by 0.02,” he admitted. “Reflecting back, she definitely wanted a medal.”

FOR THE FUTURE

With just one day of competition left, Team Singapore’s swimmers have a solitary medal to their name, courtesy of Teong Tzen Wei in the men’s 50m butterfly.

However, they have registered nine fourth-placed finishes so far. 

“We’ve been getting a lot of fourth positions, and to be honest with you, fourth hurts way more than second,” said Teong. "It sucks."

At the Games, Singapore's swimmers are chasing more than just medals. They are chasing the clock.

Olympic qualification times, national records, personal bests. The podium is a bonus, stressed head coach Tan.

“I’ve told my swimmers this - my joy for them is to see them touching the wall knowing they have put in their effort and beating their PBs (personal best),” he said.

Excellence is what they strive for. And as Amanda Lim put it, "decent" is not good enough.

“We just want more … 0.01 from my best (time) is decent, but to me, I’m just so sick and tired of doing decent times,” said Lim, who finished fourth in the women’s 50m freestyle.

“I want a good time. Decent is not going to cut it … We know we can do it.”

It is also important to note the strength of the competition at the Games, added Tan.

“Who doesn’t want to win? Who doesn’t want to get on the podium? But the reality of sport is that we are in a very different phase right now,” said Tan. “The Chinese have put on a very good show and displayed that they can be world-class.”

Finishing fourth will further ignite the fire within the swimmers, he added.

"We knew that this was going to be a tough competition, and I think to come off nine fourth places bodes well for the future as well,” said Tan. “It’s good to taste a little bit of that fourth place, (it) makes our swimmers a little bit more hungry.”

The best is yet to be from swimmers like Jonathan Tan, said Quah Zheng Wen, Tan's teammate in the 4x100m freestyle relay and the mixed 4x100m relay.

“He is still young. He will be 24 at the next Asian Games, that’s his peak. Nothing to worry about, getting fourth is impressive now,” added Quah.

“This guy is going to be going (for) one or two more Asian Games and he will be doing good.”

And there are lessons to learn from finishing fourth.

"Last night was so hard, mentally, physically. I was just drained ... Coming in today, I'm really excited with how I performed and the new PB, national record, all baby steps moving in the right direction," said Sim on Thursday night.

"Saying I'm top four in Asia is not the worst thing in the world. Top three would have been better but there's always the next few meets to come."