Swimming: Singapore women's 4x100m medley squad finish 14th at Paris Olympics

PARIS: It may not have set a new national record or gotten them into the final, but for Singapore's 4x100m medley relay squad at the Paris Olympics, it was still a swim that will, in the words of Letitia Sim, open "new chapters".

At the La Defense Arena on Saturday (Aug 3), Sim, her younger sister Levenia Sim, Quah Jing Wen and Gan Ching Hwee combined to clock a time of 4:05.58 and finish seventh in their heat, and 14th overall. The top eight moved on to the final of the event.

"It's a historical event for us, that's what our coaches said right before we went off. And it was just kind of different hearing that," said Letitia. "I just didn't realise it until he said it."

This was the first time a swimming relay team had qualified to represent Singapore at the Games on merit.

"Overall, I'm really proud and just excited for what's ahead of us and Team Singapore," she added.

It has been a stellar meet for Gan, who competed in the 800m and 1,500m freestyle events, setting national records in both. The relay, she said, had been the most "challenging" race of them all.

"It's something really different from what I'm used to, the distance events and then coming down to 100m which is almost one-tenth of the races I've swum," she explained.

"I really needed to trust in myself, trust in my training ... quite pleased with my results and very happy that our team came together, and we produced pretty good results."

Some noise had surrounded the build-up to the Games for the relay team following a selection saga that saw Gan replace Quah Ting Wen.

Quah, along with the Sim sisters and her sister Quah Jing Wen, had earlier this year led Singapore to qualification for the event. The quartet did this by swimming to a ninth-place finish at the World