Cai Lin’s All Focused On The Task At Hand

PETALING JAYA: It has been an emotional and anxious journey for top middle distance swimmer Khoo Cai Lin in qualifying for the London Olympics.

The 24-year-old Cai Lin, who qualified for London under Olympic selection time criteria a year ago, was at first denied a slot by FINA, the governing body for aquatics as only the top six swimmers who qualified under that category were given a spot.

But, a few days later, Cai Lin’s despair turned to joy as a few countries declined the FINA invitation in the 800m freestyle and she once again found herself bound for London.

Anxious: Khoo Cai Lin will be participating in the women’s 800m in London.

However, realisation soon set in that Cai Lin would be competing alone at the London Olympic Park Aquatic Centre as Siow Yi Ting, Chui Lai Kwan, Christina Loh, Yap See Tuan and Kevin Yeap, who had all qualified under the selection time criteria, failed to make the final cut.

Now that her place has been guaranteed, Selangor-born Cai Lin, who started competitive swimming at 12, is ready to splash to a new national record in the 800m freestyle.

“Personally, I think the FINA qualifying system is flawed. Technically, I qualified 14 months ago but I’m only learning whether I actually made it at the very last minute,” said Cai Lin.

“I also feel extremely bad for my team-mates as four of them (Kevin, Christina, Lai Kwan, See Tuan) qualified for the first time but they won’t be joining me.

“It has been a really emotional and frustrating period for me but now I’m all focused on the task at hand, which is to rewrite the national record.

“I was planning to take a break if I didn’t make the trip to London, but now that I’m back in, I have been gearing up nicely. Hopefully, I’ll go the distance.”

Cai Lin currently holds the national record for the 800m freestyle, with a time of 8:45.36, which she set at the 2009 Laos SEA Games.

Cai Lin, who also swam in the 2008 Beijing Games, believes that the experience will help her post a better time in London.

Then, Cai Lin competed in the 400m freestyle with a time of 4:27.37 and the 800m in 9:04.86. She failed to advance to the semi-finals in both events.

“That was my first time competing in such a big stadium and I was incredibly nervous. That certainly did me no good,” said Cai Lin.

“Now, with more experience, I won’t be as nervous as before. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep up the pace and post a good time.

“I’m also looking forward to taking to the pool against stronger competitors because I’ve mostly been swimming alone in the SEA region. That will be my motivation to do even better.

“London will definitely not be my last outing as I’m still hoping to swim for a few more years – all the way until the 2014 Asian Games,” added Cai Lin.

Cai Lin will not be only national swimmer at the Olympics as there will also be Heidi Gan, who is the first Malaysian to qualify for the 10km open water swim.