Tao Li

 

Petite Pool Diva

 

China-born Tao Li moved to Singapore in 2003 for its education system but ended up distinguishing herself with her amazing exploits in the pool. Tao, who was ranked top four in the world at her best, became the first Singaporean swimmer to qualify for an Olympic final, leaving her indelible mark as one of Singapore’s iconic names in sports.

 

At the 2008 Summer Olympics finals, national swimmer Tao Li looked diminutive standing next to her
competitors. Singapore had never been represented at that stage of the games until then. As Tao dived into the pool for the 100m butterfly—her pet event—she emerged fifth, clocking 57.99 seconds, only 0.74 seconds shy of clinching the bronze medal. A few days earlier, Tao had finished the Olympic semi-finals with a timing of 57.54 seconds, placing her among the world’s fastest butterfly swimmers and Asia’s finest. This is also her personal best, which thrust her to the fourth position on the world
ranking charts.

These achievements were extraordinary given that five years earlier, the 1.6m petite swimmer whose specialty is the butterfly stroke had been rejected by China’s national swimming team partly because of her height. In 2008, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong praised Tao Li for her achievements at the Olympics. He said, “She may be smaller, but, like a little red dot, she punched above
her weight.”

Born to parents who are swimming coaches, Tao took to swimming like a duck to water. When she was one, she was already playing in the pool; at five, she could swim 25 metres without a float. Tao knew she loved the sport when “I would feel sad that I couldn’t make it to training,” she said. She was ranked the top swimmer in her hometown of Hubei, in China, and among her peers nationwide. Though rejected by China’s national swimming team in 2001 because of her height, Tao said she was “not devastated”. In 2003, at her mother’s insistence, Tao moved to Singapore.

Her mother, Li Yan, had already moved to Singapore to work as a swimming coach two years earlier. Speaking about her decision to bring Tao to Singapore, Li said in a 2007 The Straits Times interview, “I knew Tao Li needed an education because an athlete's life span is very short.”

It was hard going for the teenager at first.

In 2004, at 14, Tao enrolled as a Primary Five student at Queenstown Primary School. “Everything was taught in English but at that time, I did not even know how to write ABC,” Tao quipped. The language barrier made it difficult for her to make friends. “While everyone was out watching movies, I stayed at home because I had no friends,” Tao said.

Having a hectic schedule made socialising more difficult and her loneliness more acute. Training would start at 5am and when classes ended at 2pm, Tao had to attend another round of training till 6pm. But her day did not end there. Tuition came after dinner and would last till 10pm. “But I hated—and still hate—studying,” Tao said in a mix of English and Singlish. Things here were different compared to China. The Singapore system’s emphasis on academic excellence means that studies cannot take a backseat. Tao was worn out from juggling both and recalled falling asleep during Chinese classes, only to be reprimanded by her Chinese teacher. Her rebuttal was, “Why can’t I sleep since I can answer all the questions?”

Tao yearned to return to China. But things changed for the better when her Primary School Leaving Examination results got her admitted into the Singapore Sports School in 2006. There, she made firm friends with other budding sportspeople who understood the rigours of combining training with classroom studies. Tao became a Singapore citizen in 2005 and soon began representing Singapore at international meets. At the Southeast Asian Games that year she won five medals. The plucky teenager went on to win Singapore’s first gold medal in the Doha Asian Games the following year.

Tao has achieved other firsts—in the Berlin leg of the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup, she set a new record of 56.28 seconds for the shortcourse butterfly, beating the previous timing of 56.34 seconds attained six years earlier.

Behind the glint of the medals is hard work. But her success has drawn an equal measure of praise and flak. There are voices which harp on how she was not born Singaporean, while others applaud her for her hard work and success. In a 2008 media interview, Tao had this to say to the former group, “Look, if I was really here for the money, do you think I would have bothered with studying? I would have just saved myself the trouble and focused on training, which is really hard without having to worry about school work.”

After graduating from the Singapore Sports School, Tao enrolled at SIM Global But she postponed her studies after the first semester to concentrate on swimming. Her results have not disappointed—in the June 2015 Southeast Asian Games held in Singapore, Tao won gold in all five events she competed in, exactly as she had aimed for. Tao said candidly that “winning feels good” and that she is proud to “fly the Singapore flag”. Competing with the home crowd watching was unforgettable for her.

Since the Southeast Asian Games, Tao has gone back to studying full-time. She is majoring in business and is due to graduate by the end 2016. Though studying is her focus now, Tao is not hanging up her goggles yet. She wants to win competitions and is setting up a swimming school to groom the young who can do the country proud. They will be teens—for young swimmers peak at around the ages of 14 and 15 and that is also when their talent is spotted. Asked if she would compete in the 2016 Olympics, Tao would only say, “Only if I’m confident of bringing a medal home for Singapore.”

References

“23rd Southeast Asian Games result,” PinoySwimming, January 26, 2015.

Cubby Leong, “Two Women who Don't Know Defeat; Li Yan, Daughter Tao Li are Grappling With Many Issues, but They are Determined to Live the Dream,” TODAY, March 3, 2007.

Jeremy Au Yong, “New Community Leadership Award,” The Straits Times, August 17, 2008.

Les Tan, “Beijing Olympics Update: Swimmer Tao Li Comes in Fifth in 100m Butterfly Final,” Red Sports, August 11, 2008, https://www.redsports.sg/2008/08/11/tao-li-final-swimming/

Nicholas Fang, “No Grunts, Only Giggles; Getting to Know This Athlete—Away From the Swimming Pool,” TODAY, October 4, 2008.

Interview with Tao Li in August 2015.

Tao Li
China, b.1990