Tao Li did not end this year on a good note – she spent two days in a hospital in Hubei last week, after a bout of food poisoning. But the 1.6m-tall swimmer is hardly complaining, after her stellar year in the pool.
She made Singapore sporting history in August’s Beijing Games by being the Republic’s first swimmer to enter an Olympic final, where she finished fifth.
Detractors who criticised her age, size and performance in the first half of the year, and said she might not do well in the Olympics, were put to shame.
The 19-year-old Singapore Sports School student also bagged three gold medals and smashed a tournament record in the recent Fina/Arena Swimming World Cup series.
Competitive accomplishments aside, she has also matured this year.
She said: "After the Olympics, I’ve higher expectations of myself. I also face things more calmly and I’m less concerned about the praise of others."
And how much does Tao Li have left in her?
Said the confident teen, who considers herself the top female swimmer in Asia, and among the top five in the world: “I’m still a teenager, I’ve still got a lot of potential. “I’m aiming to get into the world’s top three, but my eventual target would be to become the world’s top swimmer.”
Significant moments of 2008:
Definitely the Olympics and getting back the Asian Games record for the 100m butterfly from Chinese swimmer Zhou Yafei, and being ranked world No. 4 by Fina.
What would you have done differently to make 2008 a bigger success?
I have no regrets – this year was very ideal, especially with the Fina World Cup wins. But tomorrow, it starts from zero again.
Significant event of next year:
Next year will be nothing as big as this year, but I’m targeting to win some gold medals in the South-east Asia Games, especially in the butterfly events. I also want to focus more on the backstroke and the individual-medley events. There’s also the World Championships in July. I want to focus more on studies as well. I stopped attending school for two months this year, and it was hard to catch up. I’m in Secondary 4 next year and I’m not sure if I will sit for the O levels.
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