DEALING WITH THE NOISE
Some noise had surrounded the build-up to the Games for the relay team following a selection saga that saw Gan replace Quah Ting Wen.
Quah, along with the Sim sisters and her sister Quah Jing Wen, had earlier this year led Singapore to qualification for the event. The quartet did this by swimming to a ninth-place finish at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha in February.
However, to send a relay team to Paris, the team had to meet the World Aquatics requirement of having a maximum of two relay-only swimmers.
At the time, of the four swimmers, only Letitia had met an Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), or “A” cut, with her achievement in the 100m breaststroke giving her a direct path to Paris.
This left Singapore with three relay-only swimmers – the Quah sisters and Levenia – one over the limit. World Aquatics had then granted Singapore one extra relay-only slot on an “exceptional basis”.
However, World Aquatics later offered Gan an invitation to participate in the women’s 1,500m freestyle based on her having met the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT) – or “B” cut – for the event with a swim of 16:10.61 in June.
Singapore Aquatics said that it had decided to send Gan to the Olympics based on selection criteria that had been in force since June 2023.
For debutant Jing Wen, it would have been “special” to make her debut alongside her older sister, who was in the stands with her parents and brother Zheng Wen on Saturday.
“That’s life. You never know, you really never know. And it’s not going to take away from my experience,” she said.
“She’s my sister so that does hit differently, but we are all here to do a job. Ultimately, this was the relay that was sent and we’re still a team.
“All I had to do was to focus on myself and my teammates to bring that same level and I think they really did and I’m really proud of the whole team.”