Great Lengths

CONTENTS

FOREWORD by Sport Singapore 10

EDITOR’S PREFACE: Memory Laps 12

INTRODUCTION:

Making Waves, by Ang Peng Siong 14

city of Swimming Pools, by Jerome Lim 18

Olympic Games: Swimming & The Swimming Pool 20

OUR Pioneers 24
Mount Emily Swimming Complex 26
27
Mount Emily Water Tanks 30
Yan Kit Swimming Complex 34
Farrer Park Swimming Complex 37
38
Historic Training Grounds 40
Interview with Theresa Goh 42
Paralympic Games: Swimming
River Valley Swimming Complex

swimming for all 46
Queenstown Swimming Complex 48
50
Interview with Ivan Tan Hong Teck 51
Singapore Water Polo 54
Gillman Swimming Pool 56
Interview with Tom O’Brien 57
Dover Road Swimming Pool 58
Sembawang Swimming Complex (Dockyard Pool) 62
Interview with Foo Chee Han (posthumous) 64
Jurong Town Swimming Pool 65
Jurong: Then and Now 66
Boon Lay Swimming Complex 67
Pandan Gardens Swimming Complex 68
Changi Swimming Club 70
Changi Swimming Pool 72
Changi Point 73
Welcome to RAF Changi 74
Royal Air Force (RAF) Singapore

Toa Payoh Swimming Complex 76

Interview with Eileen Chai 76

Katong Swimming Complex 80

Buona Vista Swimming Complex 83

Delta Swimming Complex 86

“Delta” – Poem by Marc Nair 87

Geylang East Swimming Complex 89

coming of age 92
Paya Lebar Swimming Complex 94
Bedok Swimming Complex 96
99
New: Heartbeat@Bedok 100
Kallang Basin Swimming Complex 104
105
Fifty Years of Lifesaving in Singapore 106
The Beginnings of Modern CPR 110
Ang Mo Kio Swimming Complex 112
Bukit Merah Swimming Complex 116
Clementi Swimming Complex 120
Yio Chu Kang Swimming Complex 123
Hougang Swimming Complex 124
Yishun Swimming Complex 126
Bukit Batok Swimming Complex 128
Woodlands Swimming Complex 129
Tampines Swimming Complex 131
“Tampines” – Poem by Cyril Wong 132
New: Our Tampines Hub
MOE (Evans) Swimming Complex

New WAVES 134
Bishan Swimming Complex 136
Serangoon Swimming Complex 139
Jurong East Swimming Complex 140
Choa Chu Kang Swimming Complex 144

Jalan Besar Swimming Complex 146
Interview with Yip Pin Xiu 148
150
Jurong West Swimming Complex 152
Sengkang Swimming Complex 153
154
Centre for Disability Swimming 156
Senja-Cashew CC Swimming Complex 158
Pasir Ris Swimming Complex 158
OCBC Aquatic Centre 161
162
Interview with Amanda Lim Qiang Xi 164
Singapore Sports Hub 165
Interview with Tay Chin Joo 166
Interview with Stephanie Chen
Synchronised Swimming
Interview with Timothy Lee and Mark Lee

Yesterday once more 170

Singapore Swimming Club 172

Chinese Swimming Club 174

Britannia Club/Nuffield Swimming Pool 176

Aggie Weston’s (Royal Sailors’ Rest) 178

Dame Agnes Weston 179

Future: Integrated Sports Hub (Sembawang) 180

Haw Par Swimming Pool and the Water Polo Clubs 181

SAFRA 182

Future: Punggol Sports Centre 183

HomeTeamNS 184

Civil Service Club 185

APPENDIX A: water Safety 186

APPENDIX B: Public Pool Information 188

GLOSSARY 190

MAIN REFERENCES 190

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 191

THE TEAM 192

FOREWORD

Ask Singaporeans today and chances are most of them have been to a public
pool at least once in their lifetime. It should come as no surprise that swimming is
today one of Singaporeans’ most popular sports. With affordable entry rates and
accessibility to many Singaporeans, our swimming pools welcomed no fewer than
6.9 million admissions across the island in 2016.

This popularity has not always been the case: prior to the opening of the first
public pool in 1931, swimming was a pastime that could be afforded by only a few.
After the introduction of sports clubs in Singapore, though, residents soon took
a keen interest in sports and public sports facilities, including a number of pools
that were built from the 1930s to the 1950s to cater to the growing interest.

When Singapore attained independence in 1965, our pools played an integral
role in helping Singapore bring together its multiracial society. The government
saw sports as a way to unite the nation and create a national spirit. Swimming
pools, with their ability to attract all segments of the society, became a place
not only for everyone to participate in sports together but also where our future
aquatic champions are groomed. Yip Pin Xiu, double gold-medallist at the
Rio 2016 Paralympics, was talent spotted while swimming at Jalan Besar and
former Olympian Ang Peng Siong honed his talent at Farrer Park. Similarly, the Yan
Kit and, subsequently, Queenstown and Toa Payoh pools have, across generations,
played key roles in the development of our top national water polo players.

More recently, our pools have led the way for Singapore to nurture a more
inclusive society through sports. Many of them have been retrofitted with lifts and
ramps to make swimming accessible to wheelchair users. In 2016, the “Yes! I Can”
Swim Programme for people with disabilities, the first of more programmes to
come, was launched at Sengkang Swimming Complex as part of MCCY’s Disability
Sports Master Plan.

Our sporting history may be relatively humble but our pools have been present
every step of the way. Vision 2030 was built on the belief that sports can bring
together a nation and the shared memories of Singaporeans at the pools that are
captured in this book is testament that we can live better through sports!

LAI CHIN KWANG
CHIEF, ACTIVESG SPORT SINGAPORE

10   GREAT LENGTHS

INTRODUCTION City OF swimming
pools: A BRIEF social history

Award-winning Given Singapore’s tropical climate
heritage blogger. and balmy waters, one might expect
(Image: Jerome Lim) to find, right from the beginning, a
close affinity to swimming as a form
of recreation. Surprisingly, this was
not the case: swimming became
popular among the islanders only
some one hundred years into modern
Singapore’s history.

Before 1900, recreational
swimming belonged to the domain
of the colonial elite and well-heeled
non-Europeans. The latter built
seaside villas with private bathing
pagars and organised swimming clubs to promote the sport. The first of these
organisations, the very exclusive Singapore Swimming Club (page 172), opened
in 1890 for the European expatriate community. In the early years, before the
SSC built a pagar, its members simply plunged into the sea from a disused jetty
at Tanjong Rhu. Wealthy non-Europeans also formed clubs of their own, such as
the Chinese Swimming Club (page 174) in 1905.
On the other hand, the working class population, most of whom had neither
the luxury of time nor the means to travel, contended with the occasional dip in
the polluted waterways near home, as my father did at the Rochor Canal, together
with other children in the neighbourhood. In 1931, the opening of the first public
sea swimming enclosure at Katong Park, as well as the first public swimming
pool on Mount Emily (page 26), meant that the masses were finally able to enjoy
‘swimming’, too. The opening of both amenities came on the back of a 1920s and
1930s boom in the construction of recreational facilities, prompted by a growing
municipality – which then had a population exceeding 600,000 – and an awareness
that ‘wholesome sport’ would benefit the health and well-being of working class
subjects. Mount Emily Swimming Complex’s location, set in an exclusive, elevated

18   GREAT LENGTHS

neighbourhood that provided some of the best views of the town, may seem odd,
but an existing excavation in the form of a decommissioned service reservoir was a
deciding factor. The pool – as was the bathing pagar – was an instant hit, especially
among children. There was, on the other hand, the nuisance that overcrowding,
combined with the over-exuberance of youths, caused, and the problem was
exacerbated by secret society members, who frequented the pools and often
harassed the swimmers.

When Singapore attained independence in 1965, the promotion of sports
participation, seen as a means for building a disciplined workforce and a healthy
society, became a national priority. Swimming, a sport that could lend itself as a
social unifier, was high on that agenda. The 1970s saw swimming pools built away
from the city centre as much of the population was moved into new public housing
estates like Queenstown and Jurong. The hosting of the SEAP Games in 1973 at Toa
Payoh Swimming Complex (page 76) and the continued success of local swimmers
(page 14), the most recent being the brilliant Rio Olympic and Paralympic victories
in 2016, have continued to fuel a burgeoning belief that the sport is one at which
Singaporeans can excel and that many more would take it up.

Despite the large number of private and semi-private pools in existence today,
public swimming complexes continue to serve an important social function.
Singapore now has a total of 27 public pools and these facilities provide the
population not only with a place for physical activity, but their social use has
also been extended through the construction of unique architectural designs
that give their neighbourhoods a strong statement of identity; through the
provision of special aquatic features to reach out to different segments of the
population; and, more recently, through the integration of the aquatic facilities
with a comprehensive range of other sports, lifestyle and recreational amenities.
In becoming a city of swimming pools since independence, Singapore has also
become a country that celebrates her public swimming facilities.

JEROME LIM
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD (BLOG)

I ntroduction   19

OLYMPIC GAMES: SWIMMing

Since the modern Olympic Games began in Athens, Greece, in 1896, swimming
has been included in every edition. The very first events consisted of breaststroke
and freestyle, which were held in open water.

The oldest of the four competitive swimming styles, the breaststroke was
popularised in 1696 by The Art of Swimming by French writer Melchisédech
Thévenot, who described a technique similar to the modern-day breaststroke.
Although the slowest competitive stroke, partly on account of the body position
and underwater drag, the breaststroke can be a challenging competitive style to
master as it requires skilful timing and coordination.

Freestyle races are the most common among all swimming competitions.
Although swimmers can choose to swim any style, they almost exclusively
use the front crawl as it is the fastest. Like the breaststroke, the front crawl has
been used since ancient times. One of its earliest forms was developed by
British swimmer John Trudgen in 1873, which Australian swimmer Richard Cavill
improved on in 1902. In some sports, such as water polo and water rescue, the
front crawl is swum with the head above the water for better visibility.

The backstroke was added to the Games in 1904. It was popularised by
American swimmer Harry Hebner, who held all the world backstroke records
between 1910 and 1917. The main problem of the backstroke is that swimmers
cannot see where they are going, and one way in which they compensate is to
count the number of strokes between the signal flag and the end of the lane.

In the mid 1930s, breaststroke swimmers experimenting with new ways to
improve their stroke, notably Australian Sydney Cavill, German Erich Rademacher
and American Henry Myers, used a double overarm recovery out of the water to
help them swim more quickly. During about the same period, other swimmers,
like Volney Wilson and David Armbruster, used a synchronous leg kick, known
as the dolphin kick. The combination of butterfly arms and dolphin kick is
generally credited to the Japanese swimmer Jiro Nagasawa. While the practice
of swimming the breaststroke using a double arm recovery or two legs kicking in
unison was banned in the breaststroke event, the butterfly was finally entered as
an official stroke in the 1956 Melbourne Games. The stroke is usually considered
the hardest of all four to master.

20   GREAT LENGTHS

THE OLYMPIC SWIMMING POOL LEGO model of the
diving pool at the
Swimming during the first four Olympic Games was not held in swimming London Aquatics
pools, but in open bodies of water: the Mediterranean Sea in 1896 and Centre, constructed in
1906, the River Seine in 1900 and an artificial lake in Missouri, USA, in 1904. 2012 by Gary Davis.
The first time a pool was used in the Games was in 1908. It was 100 metres (Image: Gary Davis)
in length, built in the middle of the main track-and-field stadium. In 1924,
the standard 50-metre pool, with marked lanes, was used for the first time.
The Olympic-size swimming pool must accommodate a race course of 50
metres by 25 metres. The length is measured between the ends of each
lane, or between the touch pads at each end, if these are used. The width
allows two 2.5-metre spaces outside lanes 1 and 8 to be included.

I ntroduction   21

OUR Pioneers

The very first public swimming complexes
in Singapore – the four earliest in operation
before 1960 – consistently drew capacity
crowds. In the mid 1930s, the number of
bathers, as they were called then, reached a
peak of 8,000 a month at Mount Emily. It
was common to see standing-room-only
space in the pools and, outside, residents
standing for hours in long, snaking queues.
In the 1990s, however, utilisation of the
pools declined sharply as residents moved
to new neighbourhoods outside the city
centre. Many of the people continue to feel
nostalgic about these oldest pools and were
sad when most of them were eventually
closed. From this ‘pioneering’ period, only
Farrer Park Swimming Complex still stands.

(Previous page) Turnstiles at the former
River Valley Swimming Complex;
(above) a common sight in the
1960s: long queues outside Farrer
Park Swimming Complex.
(Image: Sport Singapore)

Upper Wilkie Road Mount Emily

10 Jan 1931 – 15 Dec 1981 The first public swimming pool, Mount Emily Swimming Complex was
(intermittently also the first public pool to use fresh water instead of seawater. At its peak
in the mid 1930s, it saw some 8,000 visitors a month. After World War II,
closed in the 1940s) the pool underwent major repair works before it was fully reopened to
the public. It was finally closed in 1981 and demolished in 1982.

An old photograph by G.R. Lambert & Co. showing the two reservoirs on Mount Emily in the 1880s.
(Image: Lee Kip Lin Collections and National Library Board, Singapore 2016)

26   GREAT LENGTHS

Mount Emily water tanks

In the late 1880s, two service reservoirs, each with
a holding capacity of one million gallons, were
constructed on Mount Emily to supply the city with
fresh water. One of these reservoirs was converted
into Singapore’s first public swimming pool – the
Mount Emily – when a 30,000,000-gallon storage
reservoir at Fort Canning was opened in 1929.
The other tank was used to store water for town
cleansing and drain flushing.

Converting the former reservoir into a pool
meant reducing its depth from the original fifteen
feet to a maximum of eight feet, and grading its
floor. Earth was filled in to the required depth and
concrete was then poured over it to form the floor.
A vertical wall, built round the sloping sides of the
tank, was perforated so that the weight of the water
could also be supported by the original walls. The
swimming pool consisted of a deep section for good
swimmers and a shallow portion for beginners.

In the 1930s, the pool water was purified using
chlorination, and water samples from the pool
were tested weekly. About three years after World
War II, before re-opening the pool for public use,
the Singapore Municipal Commissioners installed
a filtration system to keep the water clear and
continued using chlorination to keep it clean.

O U R P ioneers   27

I have fond memories of the Mount Emily pool. Between 1966 and 1969,
I was a national swimmer and represented both the country and the
Ministry of Home Affairs, where I first worked. For the former, our team
trained six evenings a week at a private pool. I also trained at Mount
Emily with the police swim team during the day, three times a week. At
the 1967 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games (SEAP) in Bangkok, my team
took home two silver medals, one in the 4x200-metre freestyle relay, and
the other in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay. Those were the years when
Singapore’s first golden girl, Patricia Chan, was winning gold medals in
every swimming event she entered in the SEAP Games, so it was great to
be a part of the history-making.
— CHAN KEE CHENG, 73, former national swimmer

When Singapore gained independence, one of the most pressing
matters was to build a substantial military force for self-defence. The
National Service (NS) Amendment Act passed on 14 March 1967 made
it compulsory for male citizens to register for NS. Together with the late
pool superintendant Lee Hon Ming and a few other instructors, I helped to
train about 600 recruits from the Singapore Police Force in lifesaving skills.
The course consisted of 12 sessions and was held three mornings each
week, before the pool was opened for public use at 9am. It culminated
in a qualifying test for the Bronze Medallion award from the Royal Life
Saving Society UK. In addition to lifesaving training, Mount Emily was
also the place where many potential national swimmers were trained for
international competitions under the famous national swimming coach
Kee Soon Bee.
— ONG POH SOON, 73, retired pool manager

28   GREAT LENGTHS

Swimming classes at the Mount Emily Swimming Complex
in the mid 1970s. (Images: Ng Yong Chiang)

O U R P ioneers   29

Yan Kit Road Yan Kit
29 Dec 1952 – Mar 2001
Named after Canton-born dentist Mr Look Yan Kit, the Yan Kit
Swimming Complex was originally a water tank built on an old
railway site off Cantonment Road. Popular in the 1950s and 1960s, the
complex was closed in 2001 and the pools levelled over. The site is being
redeveloped as a community sports facility, which will include a multi-
purpose playing court, a children’s playground and fitness zones.

The opening of the pool was
filmed in colour. It was also here
that floodlights were introduced to
see if night-time swimming would
prove popular – and it did.

30   GREAT LENGTHS

It may sound strange, but many of my swimming experiences – whether
at privately-operated pools, like Chinese Swimming Club and the Pulau
Bukom swimming pool, or at public pools like Yan Kit – were bad. In 1965,
as Primary One students at Kallang Primary School, we went to Yan Kit for
swimming lessons. On my first visit, I was so excited that I jumped straight
into the pool after changing into my swimsuit. It was the deep end! When
I realised my feet could not touch the bottom, I panicked and started to
sink. Luckily, a man pulled me up and moved me to the side. I was too
frightened by the near-drowning to even inform my teacher, Mr Aw.
— LEE CHOON GEOK, 59, former national badminton player

My coach had us do laps at the ‘adult’ pool, and I hated the (very) deep end.
There was no floor, just a bottomless inky pit where my little girl’s mind
played tricks on me (remember Jaws?). The walls of the deep end were also
cold and slimy to the touch. I always swam as fast as I could to get over the
ordeal. But the diving boards were always lovely to my mind, arching over
the lip of the pool like giant, immobile cranes.
— JOYCE CHNG, 41, teacher and writer

The Yan Kit complex was about half-an-hour’s walk from our home, and my
mother had my brothers and me in tow one afternoon. My eyes grew big
at the sight of the large rectangular tank filled with so much water! I was
nervous, unsure, gingerly tapping my feet near the edges. A lifeguard came
over and talked with my mother. We realised we had to leave as none of us
had any swimwear, but my mother said that we would shower first since
she’d already paid to enter! On our next visit, the pool was opened only
for boys. As consolation, my mother bought me an iced lolly from a bent
old lady outside. The woman had a little game for me first, and I won two
lollies. They melted fast but Mom and I had a sweet ending that day.
— JENNI HO-HUAN, 50, pastor-writer

O U R P ioneers   31

Panoramic view of the The Yan Kit Swimming Complex, tucked away in a leafy fold
main pool. The three in the foothills of Tanjong Pagar, was the nicest, and most
unusual, swimming pool I have ever swum in. It started life
springboards (inset) were in the pre-war era as a water filtration tank for the Municipal
placed at 1, 3 and 5 metres. water supply, but was reconstituted, postwar, as a public
swimming pool. Architecturally, it was a superb piece of
(Images: Julian Davison) tropical Art Deco, all curved walls and portholes, flat roofs
and ship’s railings, situated halfway between an ocean liner
and a machine-gun emplacement. In England it would have
been called The Lido. At one end there was a pavilion with
a charming ‘marine mural’, featuring jellyfish and octopuses,
while at the other end there were Deco-style diving boards,

32   GREAT LENGTHS

free-standing sculptures in reinforced concrete, looking for
all the world like the rib-cage of a whale. When it opened in
the early 1950s, the Yan Kit pool was so popular that crowd
controls had to be imposed, with a two-hour limit for each
swimmer, and even then it was standing-room only. I used
to go there for a lunch-time swim in the 1990s, when it
was an all-but-forgotten oasis of calm and tranquillity, just
a stone’s throw from the city. The pool attendants had the
cushiest job ever, which is perhaps why they were also the
friendliest of people, who used to amuse themselves by
raising goldfish and water lilies in the footbaths.

— DR JULIAN DAVISON, architectural historian

O U R P ioneers   33

2 Rutland Road Farrer Park
t. 6299 0777
The Farrer Park Swimming Complex was part of the Farrer Park
22 Feb 1957 – 1 Jun 2003 Athletic Centre, which is significant for its association with high-profile
(privatised 2004) regional sporting events in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Southeast
Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games and Pesta Sukan. Closed in 2003, the
complex is now managed privately by the APS Swim School, founded in
1996 by former Olympian Ang Peng Siong.

34   GREAT LENGTHS

The main pool at
Farrer Park Aquatic
Centre, where the Aquatic
Performance Swim Club
(APSC) trains regularly.

O U R P ioneers   35

As a schoolgirl, I loved going to the swimming pool. The moment I got
home from school, I’d drop my bag and then rush out again to Farrer Park
to join my friends. I enjoyed stretching out my arms in front of me and
doing simple flutter kicks. It was very relaxing. At one point, I went so often
that my mum complained to my dad about it, and then he forbade me
to go. I disobeyed, so I got into very big trouble when I finally went home
again that evening! I dearly miss those carefree days.
— NELLIE LEE, 71, retired technician

I learn swimming at Farrer Park every week with Teacher Zhi Kai and three
friends. Their names are Celeste, Krish and Bohan. My favourite friend is
Krish because he chases me round and round, but he cannot catch me.
I am good at kicking. I can also do three pizza pulls and one back-star float.
I like my teacher because he teaches me well. I like swimming because I like
my hair wet.
— ROBIN LOW, 6, student

In the late 1960s, there were only a few public pools, so it was not
surprising to find each one filled to, or beyond, capacity. In those days, one
could hardly actually swim, as the pools were just too crowded. When I
was about 10, I visited Farrer Park on weekends with my father and some
neighbours. We usually had to queue for one or two hours, and even then
we might not be allowed entry. Sometimes, we’d see people scaling the
walls to try to get in, even though there were glass bits embedded in the
tops of the walls. Some of them were caught, and the lifeguards would
walk the culprits around the pool before sending them out. In those days, it
was also common to lose one’s belongings, and a friend once lost even his
clothes. Fortunately, my father was able to give him a ride home in his car!
— DONALD GOH, 59, pharmaceutical executive

36   GREAT LENGTHS

HISTORIC training GROUNDS

Large crowds at the Farrer Park pool in 1960. (Image: Sport Singapore)

In 1956, the Farrer Park Athletic Centre (FPAC), consisting of a
stadium, tennis courts and playing fields, was opened, answering
the need for more sporting infrastructure in the country. These
grounds saw the rise of many Singaporean sporting icons, such as
the former national sprinter C. Kunalan. The Farrer Park Swimming
Complex was added in 1957. During the official opening, the
former Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock reminded Singaporeans not
to underestimate their own abilities: “The wish for merdeka can
only be firmly based if it springs from pride in ourselves and our
achievements.” It was at this pool that Kee Soon Bee coached
Neo Chwee Kok (page 14) and the 4x100-metre relay team to
gold medals at the 1951 Asian Games. Another legendary coach,
Ang Teck Bee, developed his son Ang Peng Siong into one of the
country’s best swimmers (page 15). After retiring from competitive
swimming, the junior Ang founded the APS Swim School at
Farrer Park, where he has trained swimmers at all levels.

O U R P ioneers   37

THERESA GOH I remember the Farrer Park Aquatic Performance Swim Club with great
fondness. I trained there for almost a decade under coach Ang Peng
Recipient, Siong for the Beijing and London Paralympic Games, in 2008 and 2012
Public Service respectively. Those ten years make up more than half the time that I have
Star (Bintang Bakti been swimming competitively. The editor informs me that a blue plastic
Masyarakat), 2017 chair that I formerly used is still there in the ladies’ changing room!

Recipient, I remember my dad driving me to the pool for my swimming training
Sports Excellence as early as 5.30am on most mornings, and again in the afternoons for
Scholarship 2016 gym training and the second swimming session of the day. Sometimes,
when my father dropped me off for the morning, he would also go for a
Long and successful jog around the large sports field outside the pool complex. Because I had
sporting career put in so much of myself during those years, my near-miss for the bronze
medal in Beijing was crushing, and after London, when I again did not
spanning 17 years. medal, I seriously considered switching to other interests.

First female Of course, I eventually returned to swimming, and when I did so,
Singaporean to I decided to give myself to the sport one hundred per cent. For the
compete at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, I trained at the OCBC Aquatic Centre and Dulwich
Paralympics, in College under Mick Massey together with teammate Yip Pin Xiu. I am
of course ecstactic and gratified to have obtained my first Paralympic
Athens 2004. medal – a bronze in the 100-metre breaststroke SB4 – after 17 years of
really hard work.
Recent Swimming
Achievements: I am sometimes asked what my motivations are for pursuing such
a challenging full-time career. Swimming is something that I’ve always
2016 Rio Paralympics, done well at, and I love the feeling of freedom in the water. I think every
bronze, 100m endeavour comes with its own set of difficulties and the important thing
is doing what one loves, because that makes the journey more worth it
breaststroke SB4 and one will be a lot happier in the long run. I should know!

2015 ASEAN I intend to continue swimming competitively for at least two more
Para Games, years. For the future, I may pursue swim coaching or... open a cat cafe!
gold, 50m & 200m I’m going to take it one lap at a time.
freestyle S5,
50m butterfly S5, — THERESA GOH, 30, veteran paralympic swimmer
100m breaststroke
SB4, 100m freestyle
S5; bronze, 50m
backstroke SB4

Goh at a training
camp in Phuket in
2016, before the Rio
Paralympics. (Image:

Theresa Goh)

38   GREAT LENGTHS

O U R P ioneers   39

Paralympic Games: SWIMMing

Swimming has been part of the Paralympic Games since the
first edition in Rome 1960. To ensure fair and equal competition,
swimmers are grouped by the degree to which an impairment
limits their activity. These sport classifications consist of a prefix –
‘S’ (freestyle, butterfly or backstroke) or ‘SB’ (breaststroke) – and a
number between 1 to 14, which indicate the functional class. The
lower the number, the more severe the impediment.

The growth of disability sports in Singapore can be traced back
to pioneer para-athletes like the late Frankie Thanapal Sinniah (1951–
2012). Sinniah was the first para swimmer to represent Singapore at
the Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in 1974, winning a bronze.
After retiring from competitive sports in the early 1980s, he worked
towards creating a stronger identity for disabled sports as president
of the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC).

Singapore’s most bemedalled para-athlete Theresa Goh (b.1987),
who has congenital spina bifida and does not have use of her legs,
began swimming at age five. Since she was 12, she has participated
in international competitions, including the Paralympic Games,
ASEAN Para Games and International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
World Swimming Championships. Formerly the world-record
holder of the 50-metre and 200-metre breaststroke SB4, Goh’s
current sports classifications are S5 and SB4.

Three-time Paralympic gold medallist Yip Pin Xiu (b.1992) has
muscular dystrophy. She also began swimming at age five and
started competing at age 12. During the Beijing 2008 Paralympic
Games, she was first in the 50-metre backstroke S3, the first
Singapore athlete to win gold in the Paralympics. She also won a
silver medal in the 50-metre freestyle. Yip currently competes in
the S2 category, and holds the world records for the 50-metre and
100-metre backstroke S2 events.

40   GREAT LENGTHS

From left: Theresa Goh, national swimmer Amanda Lim, national bowler
Shayna Ng and Yip Pin Xiu. (Image: Dyan Tjhia/Sport Singapore)

The Paralympic Games were originally organised in 1948
for wounded British war veterans by Jewish neurologist
Sir Ludwig Guttmann to help them build physical strength
and self-respect. The Games have since evolved to include international
athletes with a wide range of disabilities. Deriving from the Greek preposition
pará, meaning ‘alongside’, the word ‘paralympic’ points to the close
association between the Olympic and Paralympic movements. Governed
by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Paralympics have been
organised in parallel with the Olympic Games since 1988. The symbol for the
Paralympic Games contains the three colours most widely represented in the
flags of nations – red, blue and green.

O U R P ioneers   41

74 River Valley Road River Valley
29 Aug 1959 – 15 Apr 2003
Located at the former King George V Park, the River Valley Swimming
Complex was designed by M.E. Crocker, the same British architect
for Farrer Park (page 34). It was extremely popular until the 1970s,
when new estates were built away from the city centre and visitorship
dwindled. It eventually closed in 2003. The site, renamed The Foothills
Fort Canning Park, is currently home to art spaces and cafes.

42   GREAT LENGTHS

The foot of the southern slope of the ‘forbidden hill’ – Fort Canning
Hill – seemed an unlikely location for a public swimming pool, even
back in the 1970s when I first used it for physical education (PE)
lessons. Getting to the River Valley pool from my secondary school,
St. Joseph’s Institution on Bras Basah Road, was always an adventure:
the long walk required the better part of a double period (about an
hour-long) PE lesson. However, we looked forward to it not just as an
escape from classroom boredom, but also for the reward that came
at the end of it: a dip in the pool. During the walks, we often chanced
upon clandestine acts taking place in quiet corners and we found
fun in making catcalls at the couples. There was a diving platform
at one end of the deep pool, and a smaller pool at the far end. The

changing rooms were located on a terraced upslope. The exit from
the pool was through an old turnstile typical of the older pools.
Other than our class of boys, there would hardly be a soul
on the premises, especially in mid-afternoon. I didn’t
know it then, but the complex had a reputation for
molestation cases involving male victims, so I never
again visited it after I left school. It was with more than
a tinge of sadness that I read about the demolishment
of not only the pool complex, but also the adjacent
landmarks of my teenage years – the National Theatre
in 1986 and Van Kleef Aquarium in 1998.

— JEROME LIM, 52, naval architect

In the first few weeks of the
pool’s opening, it was reported
that “tens of thousands of
children” visited.

O U R P ioneers   43

I worked at River Valley in the years when Singapore was still a part of
Malaysia. The father of the late Lee Kuan Yew used to come to the pool in
the evenings, alone, to swim. He didn’t tell anyone he was Mr Lee’s father.
Some people said he would park his car in front of the Beach Road police
station and walk to the pool. Sometimes, after my late colleague Lee Sim
Cheng and I closed the pool for the day, we would accompany the senior
Mr Lee to have supper at the famous Hong Lim open-air hawker centre
nearby, next to the old Tongji hospital. Those were the good old days...
When Singapore became newly independent, I was transferred to Mount
Emily Swimming Complex to help train recruits from the Singapore Police
Force in lifesaving skills (page 28).
— ONG POH SOON, 73, retired pool manager

My mother’s dad took her to the River Valley pool when she was small.
My mother wanted to learn how to swim, but her father told her to watch
the other children. My mother said she was really afraid that the crocodiles
from the aquarium next door would escape and enter the pool. After my
mother’s brother was born, my grandfather took him to swim too. One
time, Mingming Jiujiu [uncle] walked, walked and walked down the pool
steps and did not stop even when his head went underwater, and my
grandfather had to pull him out.
— GIAM KIA WOON, 7, student

The River Valley pool was just a brisk walk from my secondary school at
Jalan Kuala, so I swam there regularly in the 1980s. It’s a pity the pools are
now gone along with its neighbouring landmarks, but I’m glad a part of
the site has been converted into a nice cafe and art gallery. It was there I
had the launch and exhibition for my first watercolour book in 2015.
— EDRIC HSU, 44, full-time artist and actor

44   GREAT LENGTHS

The swimming pools at River
Valley in 1963. (Image: Ministry
of Information and the Arts
Collection, courtesy of National
Archives of Singapore)

O U R P ioneers   45