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Thursday, July 12, 2012

SWIMMING: Thrilled but realistic

EXPOSURE: London merely a stepping stone for Heidi

Heidi Gan
Heidi Gan


HEIDI Gan was as surprised as anyone at becoming the first Malaysian to qualify for the Olympic open-water swimming competition in a discipline as alien to us as modern pentathlon.

The 23-year-old will be heading to London as excited as anyone after earning her spot at the Olympic marathon swim qualifier in Setubal, Portugal on June 8-9, taking the Asian continental berth.
“I was absolutely thrilled (when I found out I had qualified),” said Heidi in an e-mail to Timesport. “I did not actually realise that I had made the selection until about half-an-hour after the race when they released the final results.

“So straight after I finished my race, I spoke to my coach about how it went and we were really happy with how I raced even though my placing wasn’t as good as hoped.

“I was packing my bags ready to leave when they released the official results and people around me started shaking my hand.

“I had no idea what was going on until a Fina official approached me and said congratulations, you’ve made the Olympics!” Heidi will swim in the 10km event on Aug 9 at the Serpentine in Hyde Park against 24 competitors including Britain’s two-time world champion Keri-Anne Payne and 2009 5km world champion Melissa Gorman of Australia.

“It means a great deal to me to be representing Malaysia in the marathon swim event, especially becauseIamthefirstMalaysian to qualify for this event at the Olympic Games,” said Heidi, who is based in Perth, Australia.

“Typically, open water swimming is not seen as a traditional sport and I feel many Malaysians either do not know much about the sport or are somewhat scared to try it because it is not in the familiar and safe setting of a pool.

“In that regard I think it is great and particularly special for me to qualify in marathon swimming and I hope it will encourage participation in the sport in Malaysia and elsewhere.” Heidi, who switched to open water after finding pool racing “too repetitive and sterile”, has realistic ambitions for London.
“Given that I do not have any prior experience at the Olympics and I am still relatively new to the sport, I am simply very excited to be racing there,” said Heidi, who won a 5km-10km golden double at the 2011 Sea Games.

“I’ve not set targets as open water is so unpredictable and what we saw was that a lot of people that qualified for the Olympics in Setubal were unexpected qualifiers.

“I’ll go into the race with the mindset that I have been given an amazing opportunity, I am racing against the world’s best, and I will take full advantageofthisopportunityasIhavenothing to lose.
“Ihopethiswillbeasignificantstepping stone into my open water swimming career and will give me invaluable confidence moving forward.”

• Name: Heidi Gan
• Date of birth: Oct 8, 1988
• Place of birth: Kuala Lumpur
• Achievements: 2011 Sea Games 5km and 10km gold medallist
• London expectations: Still relatively new to the sport, Heidi is aiming to finish as high as possible in a field of 25 swimmers
• Competition date: August 9

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