A YOUNG MAN & THE SEA

His sport may be sailing and he certainly looks up to British sailor Ben Ainslie whose famous come-from-behind story inspired him to gold just when everything looked gloomy at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing. But Bernie Chin’s favourite Olympic story involves another British athlete — 400m runner Derek Redmond.

The Raffles Institution student who certainly knows his sports history well shares, “Derek was forced to withdraw from his 400m race during the 1988 Seoul Olympics just 10 minutes before it started because of an Achilles cords injury. He underwent four surgeries the following year and trained very hard, hoping for a comeback in the 1992 Olympics. He did get to race in Barcelona. But unfortunately, his hamstring tore when he was just 175m away from the finishing line during the 400m semi-final. He was in great pain and despair but he continued, limping to the end with the help of his father.”

What strikes Bernie most about this heartwarming tale is that Derek chased his dream on his own terms, beyond medals and all — and with a loved one by his side at his lowest point.

Though Derek’s story, part of Olympic folklore, is well known, it takes on added poignancy when shared by Bernie. Afterall, he too has his own famous tale — and it is a tale that has quickly become part of Singapore sports history. At the YOG in Nanjing, he opened his campaign with a disastrous 21st place and did not even finish his second race. Those results placed him bottom of the 30-strong fleet. But, with his mental strength, he found his second wind and went on to achieve Top Five placings in the following races. Those stellar performances gave him 38 points — and the much-coveted gold, ahead of Portugal’s Rodolfo Pires (47) and Hungary’s Jonatan Vadnai (50).

Tellingly, Bernie had to wait long after his poor showing in the first two races as the competition was postponed for three straight days due to lack of winds. Imagine all the negative thoughts he could well have entertained during the long wait to prove himself. Recalling the episode, he says all kinds of thoughts went through his mind. “To begin with, becoming the Singaporean representative in Nanjing was not easy. I had to train hard and cross many hurdles before securing the opportunity. So I had high expectations of myself. However, after the first racing day, the results were very disappointing…. I was extremely upset. I tried controlling my emotions, but when caring boat charterers came to console me, I broke into tears. At that point, my chance of a podium finish seemed impossible. The YOG only allows for one race discard and I already had two bad races on the first day.”

Fortunately, his coach Fernando Alegre shared with him the story of Ben Ainslie who staged a remarkable comeback to win gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. “I knew my chance of a comeback was rather slim, but I told myself YOG is a once in a life time experience and since I was already there, I should just sail well to improve my ranking. I kept telling myself, ‘Every race is a new race’.”

This simple bit of psychology worked and Bernie, one of the favourites before the competition, rose steadily up the rankings. He remained unfazed even when wind speeds became higher than what Singaporeans are known to be adept in. Opponents who tried to play the mind game found him hard to derail. He just never gave up. He just kept pushing on.

The rest is history as he and fellow sailor Samantha Yom became the first Singaporeans to triumph at an Olympic event since Singapore first sent athletes to the 1936 Berlin Games. As Majulah Singapura filled the Jinniu Lake Sailing Venue in Nanjing, a young man had not only given his country a long-awaited gold but also a stirring story of epic proportion, one that will be told for generations to come.