To any other spectator watching on, the Olympics stand as a major sporting event where the crème de la crème congregate to vie for the medal of honour. But to an athlete, the honour is already extended from the moment you qualify for an opportunity to compete at the games. And for 23 year-old Quah Jing Wen, who will be making her debut at this year quadrennial international sporting event, the sentiment has never been stronger. The youngest out of three siblings, who all happen to be national swimmers, Quah grew up watching her sister Quah Ting Wen and brother Quan Zheng Wen participate in year after year of the Olympic Games while pondering when her turn would come. Well that moment has at last arrived; for this year’s esteemed event in Paris, she will be part of the women’s 4 x 100m medley relay team.
“I think it’s every athlete’s dream to one day represent their country at the Olympic Games. At least it was for me,” Quah tells Vogue Singapore.
Congratulations on qualifying for this year’s Olympics! What has the training been like leading up to the big event?
It’s definitely been a lot of hard work, this has been a long season with back to back competitions and high training volumes. But excitement is definitely running high. Especially as we start to taper for the rest period before competing (go down in volume and training intensity), everything starts to feel better, faster and stronger.
How do you feel right now, mentally?
I’m really excited to get to the village and soak everything up. I don’t feel any nerves yet as that usually comes on the race day itself. I do feel really good about how my preparations have been going in and out of the pool and I’m so pumped to see how I perform in the race.
Between intensive training sessions, what do you do to alleviate the stress?
We have some time in between morning and afternoon trainings to eat, rest and recover. But I will say my main “decompression” time is the weekend where we get Saturday afternoon and the whole of Sunday away from the pool. Although I will say by the end of the week I’m so tired from training that all I want to do is stay at home, lie in bed and watch Netflix. I also like to spend my time taking and editing content for my social media.
As a professional athlete that spends so much time in the pool, what are the beauty essentials that you swear by?
I’ve never been a huge skincare girlie till this year when I started posting more content on social media. That’s when I realised I needed a more effective skincare routine and started to brush up on my knowledge. While I’m still experimenting with different products, two skincare products I really like is the TirTir Milk Skin Toner and CORSrx Snail Mucin. Constantly being in and out of chlorine water is really drying for my skin so using these products moisturises and hydrates it without leaving me feeling too oily throughout the day.
Similarly, the pool does not help with my naturally frizzy hair. I love the OGX Argan Oil of Morocco. It smells so good and my hair dries so smooth after. I’ve also been trying the hair serum from The Ordinary to help with hair density.
Olympics aside, what is top on your list to do in Paris?
I can’t say I’ve been to Paris if I don’t see the Eiffel tower at least once you know? As well as the Lourve. I really hope I’ll be able to travel out of the village a little. Food wise, I’ve decided the two things I have to get before leaving is a thick sandwich and escargot.
