Shanti Pereira of Singapore celebrates winning the women's track and field 200m final at the 19th Asian Games held at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center on October 2, 2023.
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Shanti Pereira, Southeast Asia's fastest woman, is well known in Singapore after winning her country's first medal in 49 years at last year's Asian Games, but it wasn't easy getting there.
The 28-year-old track and field athlete, also known as Singapore's sprint queen, won a gold medal in the women's 200m race and a silver medal in the 100m race at the Asian Games.
She is currently training hard in the United States with her sights set on the Paris Olympics in July.
But it took a lot of knockdowns to get to this point.
Pereira told CNBC that one of the “most difficult times” in his career was when he suffered a hamstring injury in 2018 that halted his training. As a result, she was unable to advance beyond the qualifying rounds for the Asian Games that year.
As a result, she lost her Sports Excellence scholarship, and within the same week, the Singapore Management University's first full sports scholarship, the Yip Ping Xiu Scholarship, also went out of her hands due to her declining grades. was stripped from.
The next few years were a struggle for Pereira.
“My energy was so focused on what other people thought of me and comparing myself to my competitors. But I realized it was completely pointless. , because these people have nothing to do with my life, my journey, my success.”
The turning point came in 2022. Three weeks before her Southeast Asian Games, she finally broke out of that downward spiral.
“I was really fed up and decided to stop feeling sorry for myself for not making progress.”
Although he did not win a medal at that year's competition, he won two gold medals at the 2023 SEA Games.
That same year, Pereira broke national records six times in the 100-meter dash and four times in the 200-meter dash.
Shakari Richardson of the United States is flanked by Shanti Pereira of Singapore and Sherika Jackson of Jamaica during the third heat of the women's 200m semi-finals at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary on August 24, 2023.
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Pereira said the ordeal was painful and took “years to overcome,” but it helped shape the person she is today.
“Experiences like that build character and resilience. It was tough, but I wouldn't take back anything that happened. It made me the person I am, and it made me the athlete I am today. Because you gave it to me.”
“I can't imagine doing anything else,” she added. “Athletics is a part of who I am, and I felt like I had so much more to contribute to the sport.”
role model
Pereira's love for sports began at the age of nine in 2005 after she took home her first two medals at her school's annual sports day race.
It wasn't until 2015 that she became a household name in the regional sporting world, winning gold in the 200-meter race at the Southeast Asian Games.
Now, she is an inspiration to young athletes who hope to one day achieve the same feat.
“It's so great that my accomplishments are having such an incredible impact on so many Singaporeans,” she told CNBC, adding that it's important for young athletes to work hard and pursue their passions. He emphasized that.
“The best advice I can give to people who look up to me and want to do what I do is to work hard and create conditions for yourself to train and recover properly. ”
“This is not easy to do in Singapore as it is normal to juggle many things at once,” she added. “But if you're really passionate about it and you feel like you're going to get somewhere with this, you have to make that sacrifice.”
Singapore's Shanti Pereira celebrates winning the women's 200m track and field final at the Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou on October 2, 2023.
William West | AFP | Getty Images
When asked who inspired her, the first name that came to mind was Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, aka “the fastest man in the world.”
“His accomplishments are incredible. He was able to forget all the pressure he was under during the Olympics and just show up and deliver,” she said.
“You have to be very mentally strong to be able to do that. It's really insane.”
2024 Paris Olympics
Pereira will be in the United States for the next two months in hopes of competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
This will be her second appearance at the Olympics, following the 2021 Tokyo Games.
Most of her days are spent training and recovering, so being in the US gives her the “perfect environment” to get as many quality training sessions as possible, she said.
“Last year we had a lot more big competitions to prepare for, but this year we only have one, so it's an ideal situation and the training process is different.”
“I'm ready, I'm excited, I'm going to do whatever I can, and I'm going to do my best,” he said, referring to the Olympic tattoo near his right wrist.
