Skip to main content
Home The New Paper
  • Home
  • News
    • Singapore
    • World
    • Business
    • Views
    • Backstage
    • Others
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Singapore Football
    • Team Singapore
    • School Sports
    • Athletics
    • Basketball
    • Cricket
    • Swimming
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Racing
    • Others
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Star Style
    • School of Frock
  • Lifestyle
    • Makan
    • Hed Chef
    • Weets Eats
    • Health
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Shopping
    • Biker Boy
    • Celeb Chow
    • Others
  • Racing
  • Your Tip-Offs
  • Read E-Paper
  • Contests
  • Coupon
  • Team

Popular

  • COURT & CRIME
  • Food & Drink
Team Singapore

Ho's nerves of steel

Ho's nerves of steel
Roanne Ho will be defending her SEA Games 50m breaststroke title in 
Kuala Lumpur. TNP PHOTO: SALWA NADHIRAH

Singapore's top breaststroke specialist says she's a different person when she steps onto the starting block

Jolene Ang
Aug 16, 2017 06:00 am
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • E-mail this article
  • 0 Engagements

Those present at the OCBC Aquatic Centre during the 2015 SEA Games might remember Roanne Ho as the affable, gregarious swimmer who broke the 50m breaststroke national record en route to winning the gold medal.

But, on the starting block before every race, the "second Roanne", a proud, single-minded woman of steel, takes over.

The 1.79m-tall breaststroke specialist, who will taking part in her third Games, told The New Paper: "The 'other Roanne' only comes out when I'm behind the block.

"When people ask me what I think about during races, I tell them that I don't know, because 'she' just comes out and takes over, (especially when) I'm under pressure or when there's something on the line."

The 24-year-old had to dig deep into her resilience last year, when she was twice forced to put her swimming on hold.

Last January, Ho visited a clinic to treat what she thought was a cough, only to discover a collapse in her right lung that needed surgery.

Joseph Schooling has two more events left at the SEA Games.
Team Singapore

We've got time to get Schooling trim and fit before Olympics, says coach

Dec 08, 2019

Related Stories

Another record for women's 4x100m free relay team as Ting Wen wins fourth gold

Schooling and Zheng Wen bring out the best in each other

Singapore's women bowlers reclaim SEA Games team title after 8 years

Six months later, she had to undergo a second surgery for a tear in her right shoulder muscle.

Although she returned to the pool for training last September, it was only this year that she began to compete seriously.

CUTTING EDGE

During the Neo Garden 13th Singapore National Swimming Championships in June, Ho showed that she had lost none of the cutting edge that made her Singapore's top women's breaststroke sprint specialist.

She said: "There was this Indonesian girl (Vanessa Evato) who was very close to my time (in the 50m heats) and I didn't like that she might beat me.

"In the final, I was so stressed but, when I was at the block, my personality just switched over.

"I thought to myself, 'Okay, I'm just gonna do it', and I won by half a second."

Untapered and nursing a swollen shoulder, Ho clocked 31.66sec, which was just a whisker off her national record of 31.45, which was set at the 2015 Games.

She said that the complications from her shoulder injury are not as physically taxing as they are mentally.

She explained: "It's like taking three steps forward and two steps back - there are days it starts to feel okay and I find momentum, but then it suddenly flares up again.

"It might act up again (closer to the SEA Games), but it's happened so many times that I've learnt to deal with it.

"Quitting isn't an option - I just have to be more careful and work around it, like focusing on kicks when my arm hurts."

Ho is pencilled in for only one event at the SEA Games - the 50m breaststroke.

Asked if she was confident of retaining her title, she said: "Seven out of 10, because as long as I'm not a 10, I'll have to work harder."

"Maybe I'll be a 10 when I'm on the block and my split personality takes over," she continued with a chuckle.

Then the eyes of steel returned, as she added: "I like the 50m event because it is a true test of skill.

"The person who makes the least mistakes will win while the person who cracks under pressure will not do well - and I don't crack."

Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now

SEA GamesSINGAPORE ATHLETESSwimming

Jolene Ang

Read articles by Jolene Ang
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • E-mail this article
  • Newslink -  Purchase this article for republication

Top Stories this Month

Irfan Fandi (left) with fellow Singaporean Benjamin Tan, the Thai League's deputy chief executive and director of club licensing.
Singapore Football

Irfan first S'porean to win Thai L1 title

Mar 05, 2021
Old RGS used as Sunday gathering site for maids till end-June
Singapore

Old Raffles Girls' School used as Sunday gathering site for maids till end-June

Mar 08, 2021
Actor Terence Cao and guest charged over rule breaches at party
Singapore

Actor Terence Cao charged over rule breaches at party

Mar 03, 2021
Home
  • Contests
  • Coupon
  • Team
  • Home
  • News
    • Singapore
    • World
    • Business
    • Views
    • Backstage
    • Others
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Singapore Football
    • Team Singapore
    • School Sports
    • Athletics
    • Basketball
    • Cricket
    • Swimming
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Racing
    • Others
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Star Style
    • School of Frock
  • Lifestyle
    • Makan
    • Hed Chef
    • Weets Eats
    • Health
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Shopping
    • Biker Boy
    • Celeb Chow
    • Others
  • Racing
  • Your Tip-Offs
  • Read E-Paper
  • Contact TNP
  • About SPH
  • Privacy Statement
  • Data Protection Policy
  • Member Terms & Conditions
  • Website Terms & Conditions
SPH Digital News Copyright © 2021 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn No. 198402868E