The men’s 470 pair of Xu Yuanzhen (left) and Terence Koh hope their boat ‘Taupok’ will bring them good luck at the Olympics.

Like everybody else, top athletes need their fix prior to the crunch

THEY have the financial muscle, the best doctors and trainers to guide them. But some of the world’s leading sportsmen and sportswomen still revert to their own rituals and routines prior to competition.

Australian Libby Trickett, who won Monday’s 100m butterfly final at the Olympics, carries a notebook with anecdotes that she uses as inspiration before diving into the pool. Oh, and she also dons new caps and swimsuits for every competition.

A quick check by Today revealed that despite the Singapore Sports Council’s investing between $30,000 and $100,000 annually in sports medicine and sports science on each elite athlete, some of the Republic 25-strong contingent in China still turn to their quirky habits for that extra boost.

Swim star Tao Li, who set an Asian record (57.54sec) for the 100m fly en route to becoming
the first Singaporean to reach an Olympic swimming final, props up her pillows for good luck before leaving for the races — just like at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, where she won the 50m fly in 26.73sec.

Team-mate Bryan Tay also has his pre-race routine. The 20-yearold must have his fix of old, classical rock music, to help get him into the mood before taking the plunge.

Currently, his choice de rigueur is Thunderstrike by ACDC, which may explain why he won his 200m free heat on Sunday night in a new national record time of 1:50.41.

Their sailing colleagues, who are some 90 0km away in Qingdao, also have their own rites. The men’s and women’s 470 pair of Xu Yuanzhen and Terence Koh, and Toh Liying and Deborah Ong respectively, had their boats named “Taupok” (or fried beancurd in the Hokkien dialect) and “RPM” (abbreviation for Roy and Pei Ming) respectively.

Roy Tay and Chung Pei Ming are 2007 South-east Asia Games men’s 470 gold medallists who missed the boat to Qingdao.“Some time back, they’d gone to Laguna hawker centre to buy
mee pok (Hokkien for flat noodles) and named their previous boat mee pok,” explained Tay, 25.
And when the Olympic-bound duo received their new 470 boats in March this year, they chose to call it “Taupok”.

“Others have gone down the same route, too. Australian 470 sailor Matthew Belcher named his
boats ‘sexy taxi’ and ‘sexy car’,” said Chung. Added Tay: “Some say it’s bad luck not to name your boat or change its name. But to us, its more of a fun thing.”

Chung and Tay had loaned their 470 boat to Toh and Deborah for the Beijing Games as the pair were last-minute entries. Said Chung: “We named it ‘RPM’ after our names, but also because it sounded fast, like revolutions per minute. We wanted the boat to go fast, and that’s what we’re hoping Liying and Deborah will do in Qingdao.”

No such luck after the first two days of racing, though. But perhaps the most outrageous pre-race routine of all Team Singapore athletes in China must be sailor Koh Seng Leong’s. Chung revealed that the 24-year-old doesn’t like getting wet during races, and has a peculiar way of resolving it.

“He’ll douse himself with water first before heading out for races so that he’s already wet,” said
Chung.