BIG HEART, BIG STAGE

At international meets, the big guys — or gals — usually win hands down. Then comes The Tao of Physique. According to this “law”, there is no correlation between size and performance. And a prime specimen for this “theory” is dimunitive swimmer Tao Li.

On a big stage — at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, no less — the Singaporean, standing at just 1.6m, showed what a feisty spirit can do in a field made up of some of the world’s biggest names.

At 18 and competing in her maiden Olympics, not much was expected of her against the likes of Australia’s Libby Trickett and USA’s Christine Magnuson. Then she swam three amazing races in the women’s 100m fly which made everyone take notice.

First, she won her heat in a new Asian record of 57.77 seconds to qualify fourth fastest for the semi-finals. This time smashed her previous best of 58.96 seconds by more than a second. She went even faster in the semi finals, clocking 57.54 seconds to lower her own Asian mark and qualify fourth fastest for the final.

With these feats, she became the first Singaporean to feature in an Olympic swimming final — a remarkable achievement, given the wealth of international talents. In the biggest race of her life, she — with fatigue from earlier races — clocked 57.99 seconds to finish fifth. Trickett won the gold (56.73) — ahead of Magnuson (57.10) and another Australian, Jessicah Schipper (57.25), while China’s Zhou Yafei (57.84) came in fourth.

In all these races, one image was consistent. Tao Li may be dwarfed by her opponents but she did not flinch. She stood tall — a fine example of someone who managed expectation, pressure, intimidation, occasion.

By the end of the competition, she had earned her entry into the Top 10 list of the greatest women 100m fly swimmers of all time. Not bad at all for someone who came to Beijing ranked just 26th out of 49 swimmers.

The Olympic rookie had made a statement — and a bold one too. Reputation, she showed, counts for little and the lack of physical attributes need not get in the way.

Tao Li’s hunger and resilience as a swimmer can perhaps be traced to what she has had to overcome on land. The Wuhan native had come to Singapore not under any foreign talent scheme for promising athletes but simply to learn English.

Enrolled in Queenstown Primary School, she — due to her poor command of English — was placed in Primary 5, where classmates were three years younger. In her early years in Singapore, she and her mother lived in a sparsely furnished three-room rental flat in Toa Payoh while her father worked as a coach in Wuhan.

“I have always believed that what I go through in other aspects of life will strengthen me as a person. And when I am strong as a person, I will be strong as a swimmer,” says the double Asian Games gold medallist.

Today, she — still insatiable, focused and driven — is one of the most iconic faces in Singapore sports. Sure, her feats in the pool are compelling. But, in essence, Tao Li’s story is about, as The Straits Times writer Rohit Brijnath puts it, “a little girl who is a medical marvel because her heart is clearly disproportionate to her size.” This she showed most brilliantly at the iconic Water Cube in Beijing in 2008 with some magical racing which has become an integral part of Singapore sports folklore.