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By Loh Jing Hong
The World’s Fastest 200M Individual Medley (SM5) Swimmer. The Young Woman Achiever in 2005. Gold-medallist of the ASEAN Para Games. These are just a few of the achievements under the belt of Miss Theresa Goh Rui Si, a national swimmer. At the fresh young age of 20, she is already Singapore’s national pride.
Despite being afflicted with spina bifada, Theresa pursued her interest in competitive swimming since young. Under intensive training and through sheer determination, she has gone on to bag 6 gold-medals at the 2001 ASEAN Para Games, and further broke a total of 4 game records at the Australian National Junior Disabled Games. A nation’s pride, Theresa also holds the world records for the 200m Breaststroke (SB4) and 50m Breaststroke (SB4).
She is currently one of Singapore’s top athletes, coming a long way since learning to face up to her physical challenges. In addition to the accolades she has, her contributions in the field of voluntary work should also be recognised. She was the Poster Girl for the Ministry of Community Development and Sports in 2003, serving to increase awareness of paralympic sports. She also spends time and effort in serving the community, with the Handicap Welfare Association and the Therapy and Educational Assistance for Children in Mainstream Education being some of her beneficiaries. As a spokesperson for disability sports, she also aims to increase publicity for athletes with disability and for their achievements to be recognised.
Theresa’s contributions and achievements need your acknowledgement! Do vote for her for the upcoming ‘Nickelodeon: Singapore Wannabe Award 2007’ as she has been honoured with a nomination for the Kid’s Choice Award. You can visit the website http://www.nicksplat.com to vote for Theresa from 15 April 2007. Voting ends on 13 May 2007. Do give Theresa your utmost support! YOUR VOTE Counts!
“I do the same things able-bodied people can do. I just do them differently.” -Theresa Goh
More about Kids’ Choice Awards
Kids’ Choice Awards (USA) is an annual Nickelodeon awards show and features the most popular celebrities, most talented musicians, most accomplished athletes and more. What is most unique about this awards show is that it is the only awards show that empowers kids to choose their favourites in areas like music, movies, sports, television, etc.
Nickelodeon has now given the kids in Asia a chance to vote for their local favourites through the Singapore Wannabe Awards 2007. This award is created specially to give recognition to and honour role-model Singaporeans that kids most look up to and want-to-be (Wannabe) when they grow up.
References
National Youth Council. (n.d.). Singapore Youth Awards 2005: Sports and Adventure (Individual) – Ms Theresa Goh Rui Si. Retrieved April 17, 2007 from http://www.nyc.gov.sg/sya/main/html/sya2005/Citation%20-%20Theresa%20Goh.pdf
Singapore Disability Sports Council. (2006, February 12). Athlete Profiles: Theresa Goh. Retrieved April 17, 2007, from http://www.sdsc.org.sg/athletes/athlete_profiles/theresa_goh/
Singapore Press Holdings. (n.d.). YOUNG WOMAN ACHIEVER 2005 : Theresa Goh, National Swimmer. Retrieved April 17, 2007, from http://www.sph.com.sg/news/latest/press_060301_003.html
SDSC Athlete Profiles. (n.d.). Theresa Goh [Photograph]. Retrieved April 17, 2007, from http://www.sdsc.org.sg/athletes/profile/47/