Singapore swimmer Amanda Lim targets best Asian Games yet in final bow

The 33-year-old will arrive in Nagoya on the back of a new national record she set in the women’s 50m freestyle in May.

Singapore swimmer Amanda Lim will arrive in Nagoya on the back of a new national record she set in the women’s 50m freestyle in May. (Image: CNA)

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SINGAPORE: After two decades of competitive swimming, Singapore swimmer Amanda Lim heads into what she expects will be her final Asian Games with a simple ambition – to make it her best.

Her time of 24.77sec eclipsed the previous mark of 24.92s set by Quah Ting Wen in 2019, giving Lim confidence that there could still be more to come when the Asian Games swimming programme begins on Sunday (Sep 20).

“I’m pretty sure this is going to be my last one,” she said.

CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less “But, with that being said, I’m not going in with the mindset of, ‘Is this going to be my last Asian Games?’ Instead, I’m thinking about how I can make this last Asian Games my best.”

“But, with that being said, I’m not going in with the mindset of, ‘Is this going to be my last Asian Games?’ Instead, I’m thinking about how I can make this last Asian Games my best.”

STILL CHASING THAT "1 PER CENT"

Nagoya will mark Lim’s fifth appearance at the continental Games, where she has yet to win a medal.

But medals and timings are not the only measures by which she will judge her campaign.

“Even if I don’t swim the best time, or even if I don’t get a medal, I feel like the prep that I had in the past year, I’ve learned so much,” she said.

“I’ve grown so much as a person, and the most important thing is I’m swimming the fastest I’ve ever swum.”

Lim has been a fixture in Singapore swimming for much of the past two decades.

She won six straight SEA Games titles in the 50m freestyle from 2009 to 2019, and has also collected 21 gold medals at the regional Games.

But behind the medals has been a constant search for improvement.

“I thought just by showing up and by doing the work, it will make me a great athlete. And I did become a great athlete,” she said.

“I had to go through all of those experiences that I’ve had in the past to actually be where I'm today, and take the very courageous extra step to step out of my comfort zone and keep finding that 1 per cent on how I can be faster at 33.”

Much of her preparation this year has focused on building strength and power, as well as improving her mobility and body position in the pool.

With the Asian Games approaching, Lim said her focus has shifted to what swimmers call “central nervous system priming” – preparing her body to react explosively in an event decided by fractions of a second.

“In the 50m, when you need to switch on, you need to switch on,” she said.

The swimming programme in Nagoya starts on Sunday, with 41 gold medals to be awarded across six days of competition.

Lim will be among the oldest athletes in Singapore’s aquatics team, with close to 30 swimmers heading to the Games.

At the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, Singapore’s swimmers won one medal, with Teong Tzen Wei taking silver in the men’s 50m butterfly.

When her competitive career eventually ends, Lim looks forward to focusing on her career in human resource consulting and spending more time with friends and family.

She acknowledged, however, that adjusting to life outside competitive swimming may not be easy.

Beyond the medals and records, Lim hopes to be remembered for her resilience in the sport.

“Medals, records are meant to be broken, and there are going to be swimmers that are going to be coming up faster than me in the future, and I’m excited for that,” she said.

“I hope that people would see me as someone who decided to continue to stay in the sport, even though there were many burnout years.

“There were super high experiences in swimming, and there were also super low ones. But those experiences, money can’t buy them.”

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这位 33 岁的选手将在抵达名古屋之前，于 5 月份创造了女子 50 米自由泳的全国新纪录。

新加坡游泳运动员林曼达（Amanda Lim）将抵达名古屋，此前她在5月份打破了女子50米自由泳的全国纪录。（图片：CNA）

这段音频由人工智能工具生成。

新加坡：经过二十年的竞技游泳生涯，新加坡游泳运动员林曼达即将参加她预计是最后一届亚运会，她的目标很简单——做到最好。

她的成绩为 24.77 秒，打破了柯婷雯在 2019 年创下的 24.92 秒的纪录，这让林相信，在周日（9 月 20 日）开始的亚运会游泳比赛中，她还有更大的潜力。

“我很确定这将是我最后一次了，”她说。

CNA游戏 猜词游戏 逐行破解单词 流行词游戏 用给定的字母组成单词 迷你数独 小谜题，大挑战 迷你填字游戏 小方格，大挑战 单词搜索 尽可能多地找出单词 显示更多 显示更少 “但是，话虽如此，我并没有抱着‘这会是我最后一届亚运会吗？’的想法。相反，我正在思考如何才能让这最后一届亚运会成为我最好的一届。”

“但是，话虽如此，我并不是抱着‘这会是我最后一届亚运会吗？’的想法去参赛。相反，我思考的是如何让这最后一届亚运会成为我发挥最好的一届。”

仍在追逐那“1%”

名古屋将是林璟第五次参加洲际运动会，但她尚未获得过奖牌。

但奖牌和成绩并不是她评判自己竞选成绩的唯一标准。

“即使我没有游出最好的成绩，或者即使我没有获得奖牌，我也觉得在过去一年的准备中，我学到了很多东西，”她说。

“我个人成长了很多，最重要的是，我现在游得比以往任何时候都快。”

在过去的二十年里，林一直是新加坡游泳界的常客。

从 2009 年到 2019 年，她连续六次获得东南亚运动会 50 米自由泳冠军，并在该区域运动会上获得了 21 枚金牌。

但奖牌背后，是不断追求进步的历程。

“我当时觉得，只要我坚持训练，就能成为一名优秀的运动员。而我的确成为了一名优秀的运动员，”她说。

“我必须经历过去的所有那些经历才能走到今天，并且要鼓起勇气走出舒适区，不断寻找那1%的提升空间，才能让我在33岁时跑得更快。”

她今年的备战重点主要放在增强力量和爆发力，以及提高在泳池中的灵活性和身体姿势上。

随着亚运会的临近，林表示，她的重点已经转移到游泳运动员所说的“中枢神经系统准备”上——让她的身体做好准备，以便在胜负仅以几分之一秒为胜负的比赛中做出爆发性反应。

“在50米比赛中，当你需要全力以赴的时候，你就必须全力以赴，”她说。

名古屋游泳比赛将于周日开始，为期六天的比赛中将颁发 41 枚金牌。

林将是新加坡游泳队中最年长的运动员之一，该队将有近 30 名游泳运动员参加本届运动会。

在上一届杭州亚运会上，新加坡游泳队获得一枚奖牌，董振伟在男子50米蝶泳比赛中获得银牌。

林女士期待着在结束竞争激烈的职业生涯后，专注于人力资源咨询事业，并花更多的时间陪伴朋友和家人。

但她也承认，适应竞技游泳之外的生活可能并不容易。

除了奖牌和纪录之外，林希望人们记住她在体育运动中展现出的韧性。

“奖牌和纪录就是用来打破的，将来肯定会有比我游得更快的游泳运动员出现，我对此感到兴奋，”她说。

“我希望人们能把我看作是一个即使经历了很多年身心俱疲，仍然决定继续留在运动中的人。

“游泳生涯中既有非常美好的经历，也有非常糟糕的经历。但这些经历，是金钱买不到的。”

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