Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
NATIONAL swimmer Hayley Wong placed second in Heat 4 of the women's 50m freestyle event in a memorable debut at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Saturday.
She completed her debut with a time of 28.52s only behind Gabon's Noelie Annette Lacour at the Paris La Defense Arena.
The result placed her 50th overall out of 79 contestants.
The 16-year-old still feels that it is surreal to be contesting at the world's biggest sporting stage.
"It is honestly the biggest dream to ever come true as an athlete and I still cannot believe that I am a participant at the Paris Olympics," said Wong in an interview with BruSports News after her event.
"It is also such an honour to represent our country and competing at a world and top level sporting event," she added.
She had targetted to break her personal best and national record of 27.94 seconds set during the ASEAN School Games but fell just short.
"It was pretty nerve wrecking especially when sitting in the call room waiting to race and I tried to stay as calm as possible," said Wong.
"The Olympics is so different to other swim competitions as the crowd here is unbelievable and cheers loudly for each and every event.
"I had aimed to break my PB but unfortunately fell short of that," she added.
The experience is something she will savour for the rest of her life having had the opportunity to meet some sporting inspirations.
"I have seen and taken pictures with so many sport celebrities and not only just swimmers but as well as tennis players and hopefully some NBA stars if I’m lucky," said the national swimmer.
"They’re all so friendly and nice and gave me so much inspiration to be like them as the top athletes in the world," added the Sultanate's flagbearer.
When asked on what's next, Wong replied: "Being a part of the Paris Olympics family in these few weeks has shown me what it's really like participating at the highest sporting event in the world.
"This has further fueled my motivation to do better and improve in my swimming PBs in the coming years," she added.
"There will be some swim meets coming up towards the end of the year, so it'll be back to the grind soon after this.
"I also have my O' level exams to look forward to in the next few months," she continued.
Brunei's youngest Olympian is also grateful to her supporters back home.
"I would like to say thank you and I’m so grateful for all the words of encouragement from family members, relatives and my friends," said Wong, who started swimming at the age of six.
"I would also like to thank my school for all their support throughout this academic year and by making sure I stay on track with all my school work while I’m away for international competitions.
"Lastly thank you to all my coaches who have given me the foundation in swimming skills/techniques and for always pushing me to swim faster over these past 10 years," concluded the PAP Masna student.
