Tay going the distance for Olympic dream

National swimmer Zackery Tay was just 13 when he told his parents he wanted to train in Thailand.

- David Lee

The former Football Association of Singapore junior centre of excellence Under-10 player had taken up swimming as a co-curricular activity with his friends three years earlier as their primary school did not offer football as a CCA.

To get up to speed for competitions, he joined a swim school for extra training. In time, he found his niche in backstroke and individual medley, events that the 18-year-old will be competing in at the Oct 31-Nov 2 Singapore leg of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup at OCBC Aquatic Centre.

Single-mindedness is his forte. In 2017, a one-week training camp with another Singapore swim school at a Fina (now known as World Aquatics) training centre in Phuket led to him deciding to train there for a longer period.

To support his sporting aspiration, his father quit his job in the oil industry so that the family could relocate there.

Tay said: "I saw how seriously and systematically they trained over there and how passionate the coach (Miguel Lopez) was, I felt it would be a good place to train and develop, so I told my parents I would like to try it out.