LONDON, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- National long distance swimmer, Heidi Gan's
gallant effort saw her finishing 16th in the Women's 10km Marathon Open
Water Swimming competition at Hyde Park, here today.
Heidi, 23, making her debut in the London Olympics after winning two gold medals in the SEA Games hosted by Indonesia last year, clocked 2 hours, 45 minutes in the six-lap competition that saw a strong field of swimmers.
Starting the first lap in eighth spot, she then dropped to 12th in the second and third laps before dropping a rung in the fourth and finally settled for 16th in a field of 25 swimmers.
Eva Risztov of Hungary took the gold with a time of 1'57:38.2, American Haley Anderson claimed the silver (1'57:38.6s) while Martina Gribaldi of Italy settled for the bronze (1'57:42.2s).
Heidi who was ranked 24th in the world marathon swimmers list before the Olympics, moved into 16th spot, a credible effort by the debutant.
"Before this, I never knew where my position was. Today's was the third international competition for me," she said adding that her target was to finish among the top 20 swimmers in the world.
"I guess I underestimated my ability. I'll keep on training and will compete in more international competitions for exposure," she said.
Her first international competition was at the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia where she clinched two gold medals through the 10,000m and 5,000, open water swimming events.
Heidi started her swimming career with Kuala Lumpur in the 100m freestyle swimming competition at the 2002 SUKMA before turning her attention to long distance swimming.
Heidi, 23, making her debut in the London Olympics after winning two gold medals in the SEA Games hosted by Indonesia last year, clocked 2 hours, 45 minutes in the six-lap competition that saw a strong field of swimmers.
Starting the first lap in eighth spot, she then dropped to 12th in the second and third laps before dropping a rung in the fourth and finally settled for 16th in a field of 25 swimmers.
Eva Risztov of Hungary took the gold with a time of 1'57:38.2, American Haley Anderson claimed the silver (1'57:38.6s) while Martina Gribaldi of Italy settled for the bronze (1'57:42.2s).
Heidi who was ranked 24th in the world marathon swimmers list before the Olympics, moved into 16th spot, a credible effort by the debutant.
"Before this, I never knew where my position was. Today's was the third international competition for me," she said adding that her target was to finish among the top 20 swimmers in the world.
"I guess I underestimated my ability. I'll keep on training and will compete in more international competitions for exposure," she said.
Her first international competition was at the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia where she clinched two gold medals through the 10,000m and 5,000, open water swimming events.
Heidi started her swimming career with Kuala Lumpur in the 100m freestyle swimming competition at the 2002 SUKMA before turning her attention to long distance swimming.
From ZULHILMI SUPAAT -- BERNAMA
1 comment:
I believe the time taken for Heidi was 2 hours 45 seconds. There were 3 Asians, Japan (finished 13th) Malaysia (finished 16th) and Ms Tang from Hong Kong (20th).
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