Singapore’s Shanti Pereira wins historic 200m Asian Games gold

HANGZHOU, China: As Singapore held its breath in expectation, its sprint queen delivered jubilation. 

At the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium on Monday (Oct 2), Shanti Pereira clocked 23.03s to take victory in the women’s 200m final at the Asian Games. 

It is Singapore’s first athletics gold medal since 1974, when Chee Swee Lee won the women’s 400m.

On Saturday, Pereira already ended her country's nearly 50-year wait for an Asiad track and field medal, after she clinched a silver in the women’s 100m.

Pereira, whose 200m personal best stands at 22.57s, then topped all three heats for the event the next day, with a time of 23.14s. 

This was her first Games finals in the 200m. At the last edition in 2018, she did not advance past the semi-finals.

The Singaporean has overcome much to get to where she is today.

She first burst into the nation's consciousness at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games when she took gold in the 200m, clocked a personal best and set a new national record. Her win also ended a 42-year gold medal drought for Singapore in a SEA Games sprint event.

But with it came the enormity of expectations. That coupled with injuries meant that some wrote Pereira off over the next few years.

"Slowly, people just kind of lost faith in me. People have their opinions about my journey, and whatnot. I think, for a while there, I really did let it get to me, which is not ideal,” she said previously.

"There was a lot of self-doubt that kind of grew as the years went by. Just because it was like - again another season I couldn't get a PB (personal best), and it just continued and continued and continued.”

The negativity ate her up, added Pereira. It got to the point that there were times when she was no longer excited to compete or