Story by REDintern Christy Ong. Pictures by REDintern Vanessa
My first day as a Red Sports writer wasn't going as smoothly as I had hoped. When I first arrived at Choa Chu Kang stadium, I was confused at the number of events going on concurrently around the track. It didn't help that we were denied entry to the track as we did not have the official Red Sports tee yet.
Thus, following the advice of our fellow REDcrew, Jun Wei, just-as-fresh photographer Vanessa Lim and I ventured to find Gail Chia, the winner of the A Division Long Jump event to grant us a short interview. Fortunately, for the both of us, despite the initial shock at being approached, she consented to an interview readily.
It was a sweet victory for Gail Chia as her last win in the Nationals was two years ago. She outshone the other competitors with a jump of 5.12m. However, she was modest about her feat and commented that it was a lucky win for her as it was hard for the other competitors to do well due to the strong head wind which affected the run up.
When asked about who she felt was her biggest competitor, she remarked unostentatiously, "My biggest competitor would have to be myself. My personal best is 5.16m which meant that I could have done better." Gail said that the thoughts that ran through her mind during the competition were only on how to improve her jump and go further.
Gail was a sprinter before moving on to jumping and her sprinter's background helped her with the basic speed needed to achieve success in the long jump. She started the sport back in Secondary 1 and had received training at the Singapore Sports School. Now, at Raffles Junior College in Year 1, she finds it harder to balance her sport and schoolwork as unlike back in Sports School, the timetable would be planed to accommodate her involvement in sports and school. Nonetheless, it would be impossible for her to give up either part of her life and she works on balancing both.
Red Sports would like to congratulate Gail Chia on winning the A Division Long Jump championship and for coming in second for the Triple Jump. We wish her all the best and believe that she will "go higher" (what she tells herself after takeoff during a jump) in all future endeavours.
Related article:
Gail Chia of RJC wins long jump gold
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“we were denied entry to the track as we did not have the official Red Sports tee yet.”
[…] Gail Chia, RJC: “My biggest competitor would have to be myself.” Ang Shi Ting, also from HCI, had the same jump distance of 4.96m as fellow teammate Hsien Li Jie. (Photo 2 © Ng Cheng Cong/Red Sports) Hsien Li Jie from HCI leapt a distance of 4.96m. (Photo 3 © Ng Cheng Cong/Red Sports) […]