Sea Games: Cai Lin wins 400m free, Olympic berth

Khoo Cai Lin raises her arms after winning the 400m freestyle final yesterday.

ANOTHER surprise was delivered at the Korat Aquatic Centre for the Malaysian contingent as Khoo Cai Lin won the women’s 400m freestyle gold and also booked herself a 2008 Beijing Olympic spot yesterday.

In clocking 4:18.20s, Cai Lin also bettered the Games record of 4:19:13 set by Joscelin Yeo of Singapore two years ago.

It was a remarkable day for her, especially as she had, despite “qualifying” for Beijing during the Malaysian Open in September after clocking 4:19:65s only to be denied a berth as it had not been registered as a qualifying event.

The Olympic qualifying mark is 4:20.05.

“I am very happy with what I have achieved today (yesterday). To qualify for the Olympics was my dream and I have achieved it and the gold makes it sweeter,” said Cai Lin
“I really prepared for this event and I was confident that I could deliver gold.”

She went on to add a silver to her personal haul when the 4x100m freestyle quartet, also comprising Siow Yi Ting, Heidi Gan and Leong Chi Lin finished second (3:52.11s) behind Thailand (3:51.86s).

Yi Ting, who won the 200m IM gold on Friday, took silver in the 100m breaststroke yesterday, clocking 1:12.65s. First was Nicollete Teo from Singapore who clocked 1:10:15s while Jaclyn Pangilinan from the Philippines took bronze with 1:12:60s.

Malaysia’s third silver of the day came from Daniel Bego in the men’s 100m freestyle.

He clocked 51.53s while Singapore’s Bryan Tay Zhirong took gold with 51.23s. Kendrick Uy of the Philippines was third in 52.16s.

NST 9 Dec 2007