The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, California August 25, 2008 Local Olympic swimmer explains Beijing experience in her own words Patti Myers The Desert Sun RANCHO MIRAGE — Rancho Mirage teen Lynette Lim is getting ready to take her driver's test and preparing for her junior year at Palm Springs High School, but she also has quite a story to tell about her summer. The 16-year-old traveled to Beijing as a member of the Singapore Olympic Team. One of 24 others on the tiny island nation team (Lim holds dual citizenship, as her parents were born there), Lim holds national marks in four events in freestyle swimming, three of which were Olympic events. She was close to her personal best times in both the 200 and 400 in Beijing, and broke her own national mark in her final event, the 800. She walked in the Opening Ceremony and left her footprints in paint among the other 10,000 athletes from this year's summer games. She returned with memories that will last a lifetime — or perhaps until the 2012 Games in London. The Desert Sun talked with Lim upon her return to the valley last week: Talk about your preparation and sendoff in Singapore. Have you ever seen anything like it? You are all celebrities! How did you feel getting all the uniforms, then walking through all those cheering fans and onto the plane for Beijing? Well ... the sendoff was pretty much the same as the (Southeast Asia Games) sendoff because that was a really big meet for Singapore. The difference here was that almost all the athletes going to Beijing were there, whereas in SEA games, the swimmers had basically their own sendoff (that was partially because the team was so much bigger and the swim team earns A LOT of the medals from the SEA games. Apparently, for every trip we get new stuff (I got a very slightly different red jacket, new beige pants because the others didn't fit me anymore, and the same red duffel bag and backpack). The shirts we get are different for every game in design and in the logo. I was mainly just embarrassed from all the attention. It made it a WHOLE LOT WORSE when I had to walk through the gauntlet (of hundreds of cheering fans) by myself because SOME CERTAIN PEOPLE (her family) forced me through it!!! After we were out of the crowds I was fine because I was with my friends. From the plane ride to the landing, what were your days like before the actual events began? I had to drink TONS of water on the plane ride so I wouldn't get dehydrated. It even got to be embarrassing to ask the flight attendants for another refill. My roommate in Beijing was the team captain, Nicolette Teo. She was the only one of us that had been to the Olympics before, and she is the oldest. She is in her last semester of college in UCLA. She was a great roommate (but she was a really light sleeper, and I apparently talk in my sleep. So as you can imagine, I felt pretty guilty). This is pretty much how my day went: I would wake up at 7:20 to get ready for breakfast, do a hydration test, then meet at 7:40 to go with the whole team to breakfast. We would walk down to the dining hall, check in our bags, and then go eat. We would usually leave by 8:15, get our bags, then walk to the bus and be on our way to the pool. After training, we would go back to check our bags in, and then eat lunch. We usually waited for everyone to finish eating (actually, they were mostly waiting for me, and sometimes Ting Wen, as I was the slowest eater). After that we would go back to our rooms and do whatever we wanted — sometimes that was sleep, play the jigsaw puzzle, get a sports massage from one of the two physios (which actually hurt!), watch a movie, or do laundry. We would go to practice again at 5 then go straight to the dining hall. After dinner, we would go back to our rooms, get ready for the next day and then usually play a puzzle, take an ice bath, get a massage, etc. Was the Opening Ceremony as spectacular as it seemed? Did you get goosebumps walking in? And who did you see there? The Opening Ceremony was a HUGE letdown for me. First of all, it was really HOT, and my country had to wear a long-sleeve. button-down shirt with that thick red jacket and pants. To make matters worse in terms of the weather, we had to sit on the VERY top row of the staging area — which was the gymnastic stadium. And since heat rises, we got the worst spot in the stadium. We sat there for two hours. We were the 169th country to get to walk out. There was a screen in the stadium but almost the whole time it was telling us which country had to walk out. The first time I got a glimpse of any performances was after Spain went out, then we saw a little bit of the guy with the little girl playing the piano. That was it! Once we got out of the stadium, we went outside to wait in a humongous line before we went into the stadium. Also, it turned out that I was on the wrong side to be on TV. Honestly, the only thing that I liked about the opening ceremony was the paint we got to walk in and the lighting of the torch. (My camera ran out of battery (power) just before the lighting of the torch! How lame is that?!) I didn't really see anyone there. I saw the people that everyone else saw, the way everyone else saw it — on the screen. Break down your races. Which one did you feel was the best? Was it intimidating or were you in “it's just another race” mode? I was really nervous, especially in the waiting room in my first race (400-meter freestyle). As I did more events, I got less and less nervous. I was kind of intimidated in all my races because most of the girls in my heat were a lot faster than me. I felt the best in my 800 free. I didn't die in the end and I feel that I can go a little faster if someone is pushing me. I could just barely make out the girl all the way on the other side of the pool that was almost going the same pace as me. I don't think I could've gone faster in my 200. And for my 400, I think that if I was tapered (time in between) a little more, I would've done better. You have participated in numerous international events, but what did you learn from your first Olympics experience? How was Village living and sightseeing afterward? I'm not sure if I learned anything new, but it's above everything else. I was in the entertainment room in the Village, but mainly after we went shopping. We ate food that we liked — not anything like you see. I wouldn't try like (fried) starfish on a stick or anything like that. I bought some clothes and a purse, but at the Silk Market they were really aggressive. We watched all the (swimming) finals and the only chance we had to go to the Great Wall was the last day and we ran out of time. Are you ready to get back in the pool or get back to school?? Or both? I'm not ready to go back to school, but I'm back in the pool — just taking it easy. What's next for Lynette??? Your short-term goals and long-term goals First to get through with A's in my junior year at Palm Springs High. Then, I want to go to the next Olympics. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
