Singapore, July 30, 2025: The President of the Republic of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, has congratulated Gan Ching Hwee for her performances at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
Gan qualified for the final of the women’s 1500m freestyle on Tuesday, July 29 and finished seventh behind the legendary American swimmer Katie Ledecky.
The President of Singapore was full of praise for 22-year-old Gan, who broke three national records in two days, including her own 1500m freestyle mark, and was the first female swimmer from Singapore to reach a world championship final since Tao Li in 2007.
In a social media post, he wrote: “Getting this far has been tough for Ching Hwee. Starting with waking up at 4.30am as a kid to train up twice a day, up to 10 times a week.
“Her mother’s words of motivation? The Cantonese saying: “Even if the sky falls, use it as a warm blanket” (tin dit lok lei dong pei gam). Congrats Ching Hwee! Now, look to the Los Angeles Olympics.”
Ledecky, 28, won gold (15:26.44), Italy's Simona Quadarella the silver (15:31.79) and Australia's Lani Pallister the bronze (15:41.18). Gan clocked 16:03.51 to finish seventh.
Gan said: "Definitely overall happy. This was a bonus race if anything, and I really wanted to just do my best.
"I should be really happy regardless of the outcome because I really gave my 101 per cent since day one of this competition. Definitely carrying some fatigue across, but that's part and parcel of racing."
Champion Ledecky had positive words on Gan, who graduated from Indiana University in the United States. "I know she has competed in the NCAA at Indiana, and so a lot of my teammates have swum with her and speak very highly of her,” Ledecky said. "I was really happy to see her do so well.”
(Source: Channel News Asia/World Aquatics)
