WELL DONE Rachel gets a congratulatory hug from chef-de-mission Low Teo Ping
(above) after her victory, and shows off her golden prize (right).

THE colour gold was all Rachel Lee had on her mind.

Not the gold she had just won in the Optimist girls' competition at the SEA Games here on Friday in Pattaya — but fried hokkien mee.

And she can't wait to board the flight back to Singapore on Sunday after more than three weeks away — to tuck into a piping hot plate of mee.

"I really want to eat some Singaporean food and fried hokkien noodles is what's stuck on my mind," said the 14-year-old Singapore Sports School student. "Since arriving here, we were told to avoid fried food because it would affect our performance. I really do miss the food back home."

And who could deny her that simple wish. After all, she held off the region's best junior sailors, including Thailand's Noppakao Poonpat, for her first gold in her maiden SEA Games.

Rachel had finished second in Friday's 11th race, and with the 12th leg cancelled due to poor winds, she had done enough to give her a total of 15 points after two discards — two less than silver-medallist Noppakao.

The Singaporean had won five of the 11 races at the Ocean Marina Yacht Club here. Malaysia's Alissa Chew, who clinched Friday's final race, took the bronze.

"It was close, but in the last race, I managed to catch the downwind with about 80 per cent of the race remaining and I maintained my position to the finish," said Rachel.

Her gold helped Singapore end the sailing competition with a final tally of four gold, six silver and three bronze medals, a drop from the 2005 Games in the Philippines, when the Republic won seven gold and three silvers.

On Wednesday, Rachel, along with Darren Choy, Russell Kan, Luke Tan and Daniella Ng, narrowly missed out on the gold in the Optimist team racing event when they were pipped by Thailand. The disappointment that day was evident on their faces, and Rachel said that had spurred her to get it right on the final day of competition.

"We were really disheartened after losing the gold," she said. "But it just made me more determined to win the Optimist to make up for it. It was the only chance I had to do so (at these Games)."

After having her fill of fried noodles, Rachel will turn her attention towards next July's Optimist World Championship in Cesme, Turkey, where she will be looking to better her two previous outings.

At the 2006 championship in Uruguay, she finished fourth in the individual rankings and 13th overall. And at this year's event in Italy, she was third in the individual rankings, but slipped to 26th overall.

"My target is to win next year's Optimist World Championship, but I still need to work on improving my strength and fitness, and maybe gain a couple of kilos to race better," said the 1.65m-tall Rachel, who weighs 46kg.

The carbo-loading that she has planned for on her return home would certainly help pile on the pounds.

Read more stories on the 24th SEA Games here.