Au revoir! Team Singapore bids farewell to the Paris Olympics

PARIS — A day after celebrating kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder's bronze medal, Team Singapore rounded up their participation in the Paris Olympics on Aug 10 with creditable results from their two debutantes in canoeing and golf.

Kayaker Stephenie Chen clocked 1min 55.15sec in her women's canoe sprint K1 500m semi-final in the morning to finish sixth out of eight athletes and earn herself another race. The fastest two in each of the four semi-finals qualified for Final A, while the others were grouped in Final B (third, fourth) and C (fifth, sixth).

In Final C two hours later at Vaires-sur-Marne, Chen could not hold on to a strong pace in the last 100m and placed seventh out of eight kayakers in 1:56.55 — she finished 23rd out of 40 overall.

In Final A — the medal race — New Zealand's Lisa Carrington won in a new Olympic best of 1:47.36, while Hungary's Tamara Csipes (1:48.44) and Denmark's Emma Jorgensen (1:49.76) took silver and bronze respectively.

Chen, 32, was particularly pleased with her "fantastic" semi-final, saying: "I'm really happy with how my races evolved. Going into the semis, there were athletes ahead of me on times, and to come on top of others showed I can step up on the biggest stage.

"To qualify for the Final C at the Olympics, placing me in the top 24 is beyond my dreams.

"I learnt I can recognise and turn things around when I need to under pressure. My performances have solidified my belief of where I stand as an athlete. I was unfortunate to miss out on Tokyo 2020, but I now know I belong."

Bill Lee, national coach for sprint kayak, hopes that Chen's performance can inspire the next generation of canoeists.

He said: "She did really well for her first outing at the Olympics to hold her composure and execute her races according to her plan. Stephenie's journey inspires belief that through hard work and dedication, we are able to put Singapore on the world map."

Chen, however, is undecided about her sporting future and mounting another Olympic campaign, saying: "I have achieved every goal I have set in my career. Will I reassess and look to build on my strong performances? I cannot answer that now... my heart and mind need to be in the right place to go after more performances."

Meanwhile, the future looks bright for Shannon Tan, as the 20-year-old finished joint-40th out of 60 golfers in the women's individual competition.

At Le Golf National, Tan finished with a bang as she carded a brilliant eagle on the final hole for a two-over 74 to sign for a seven-over 295 total.

Her coach Ryan Lumsden said that there are "a lot of positives to take away from this week such as her ball striking".

Tan added: "It's always great to end with a good closing hole and it's been a great week for me. I've been a pro for only slightly over seven months now, so being able to qualify and play against the best at the Olympics has been such a great experience.

"This is probably the toughest golf course I've played. While there is always room for improvement, I thought I've handled it pretty well here, learnt some new shots and executed the game plan which was set out at the start of the week."

Over the next three weeks, she will return to the Ladies European Tour and play at the Scottish Open, AIG Women's Open, and KPMG Irish Women's Open.

New Zealand's Lydia Ko (71) won gold with a final score of 10-under 278. German Esther Henseleit (66) claimed silver two strokes behind with Lin Xiyu (69) of China was a further shot back to take bronze.

[[nid:696939]]

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.