Theresa Goh
Singapore’s Theresa Goh started swimming at five, competing at twelve, and has represented Singapore at numerous International swimming meets. She shares about her journey of sheer resilience that made her the powerhouse she is today.
Q: When did you start to realize that swimming was a huge passion of yours?
A: I started swimming when I was about 5 years old. But it was only in when I was about 12 that I really went into competitive swimming, and II felt like it was something that I could do really well you know. It wasn’t exactly something of a passion of mine. But it was something that I did well and I enjoyed the feeling of being in the water you know. It was something that you, I cannot emulate the feeling anywhere else. The feeling of freedom and having no obstacles around me.
Q: What motivates you in the morning to jump into that really cold pool every morning?
A: Whenever I wake up at like 5.30 in the morning and I know that I have to get into the pool in the next 1 hour, something that really makes me want to get out of bed to get there is the fact that I know that all my competitors are doing the same you know. Like when I train 13 sessions a week, it wasn’t just me who’s doing it. I wasn’t the only one doing a 110% all my competitors were the same you know. And I felt like if I wanna give myself a fair 9 shot, I had to do something about it. If I want to achieve something, I cannot just say that I wanna get a gold medal but then I only put in 50% of the effort you know? That just doesn’t work that way. And sometimes, it just doesn’t work out the way you want but it’s only fair to give in a maximum effort you know. So hat motivates me is knowing that other people are doing the same thing. I’m not the only one.
Q: How has your disability contributed to you being the person that you are today?
A: It’s definitely contributed quite a bit of who I am. It also is something that I’ve taken many years to fully embrace, because I’ve gone through stages of not quite knowing, understanding that I have a disability and feeling a little bit inferior, to feeling like nope I don’t wanna be known as having a disability and then finally to coming to this stage where I’ve a disability it’s fine you know, it’s part of who I am and I am not gonna go shun away from it because I’m still part of a certain group of representation. And I don’t wanna be taken out of that just cos I don’t wanna be seen as the person with disability. So it’s really played a huge part in the person I am today because there’s been many events you know where I’ve gone through, many experiences that are truly unique to people who have disabilities. If I were a person without disability I would probably would not face the same kind of experiences and I would look at life a little bit differently I feel. I mean it’s it’s part of my identity.
Q: What is empowerment to you?
A: Empowerment to me is taking every opportunity that I’m given, and to make the best out of it.
Watch the full story of this strong-willed swimmer here:
