AMONG THE BIG GUYS

It is easily one of sports’ most improbable tales, the story of how Australia’s speed skater Steven Bradbury clinched gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics. In the final of the men’s 1000m event in Salt Lake City, the least fancied of the five finalists trailed well behind his much more illustrious opponents, his chance of a medal finish getting slimmer with each passing lap — until a dramatic last corner pile-up left the favourites in ruin.

With that, he won gold at the expense of the big names — and the term “bradburied” became an Aussie verb to refer to unexpected success.

Colin Cheng loves this story, describing it as “amazing”. It is little wonder for, in his own career, the Singapore sailor too has had to face stronger and more seasoned opponents — and, often, what keeps him going is the belief that the underdog too will have his day. Like what happened to him in the 2012 Olympics.

In the British capital, the former Anglo-Chinese School student was aiming to be among the top 25 sailors. Top 20 would have been, gosh, unrealistic, he thought. But he would eventually blow all those expectations as he powered to finish 15th out of 49 contestants in the Laser Standard. In the process, he finished ahead of world class sailors like Austria’s Andreas Geritzer and Portugal’s Gustavo Lima.

It was vindication for the nanotechnology undergraduate at the University of New South Wales who had put aside his studies to prepare for the competition.

In the build up to London, the 1.75m-tall Colin bulked up his scrawny 65kg frame as he moved up to senior level, putting on 17kg to tip the scales at 82kg. But compared to peers on the circuit, Asians — who have won just a few medals in the history of Olympic sailing — remain physically smaller and are pretty much ignored.

Colin didn’t let this get to him, choosing instead to knuckle down and win the respect of his peers. It was “positive fuel” for him in his quest to prove to the other sailors that he was worthy to be among them in the water.

It was this sort of determination that had defined his run-up to the Olympics, which required him to dig deep as he suffered one setback after another. Although he was a world junior champion, stepping up to the elite level in the Open category was a different story altogether.

There were more downs than ups. For example, he missed out on gold at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, and had a poor outing at the 2011 World Championships in Perth. The only child of two medical doctors, he would only achieve qualification at the last minute.

In London, his efforts eventually propelled him to three top-10 finishes across 10 races. While a medal was beyond reach, he, looking back, is delighted to have put in some of the best races in his career at the Olympics.

Recalling his experience in London, he says, “That was my first Olympics. I was not as experienced as some of the other competitors. But I also had little pressure to perform and could be ‘fearless’. So my result exceeded expectations.”

The highlight was holding off eventual gold medallist and five-time world champion Tom Slingsby of Australia in Race 8 before eventually being overtaken to finish 2nd. That experience was surreal.

For a brief moment at least, Colin, coached by Brett Beyer, stood tall among the “very, very best”. If it could happen once, it could happen again — especially if the stars align, like they did for Bradbury in 2002.