Perak swimmer breaks Nurul's 17-year-old 100m freestyle mark

Sukma 2004: Negri SembilanMay 28 - Jun 6 

PERAK’S “Miss Butterfly” Cindy Ong fluttered her way into Malaysian swimming history when she broke the oldest standing national record in the 100m freestyle at Aquatic Centre in Paroi yesterday. 

Cindy, who will be 20 on June 7, produced a sensational performance, clocking 58.17 to not only bag the 100m freestyle gold but also erase former Malaysian swim queen Nurul Huda Abdullah’s time of 59.08 set in Adelaide 17 years ago.  

Cindy, who was only three when Nurul first went under the one-minute barrier, produced a quick burst of energy to pip 15-year-old Heidi Gan of Kuala Lumpur to the gold. 

Heidi had already smashed the Sukma record of 1:00.10 set by former Olympian Marilyn Chua in 1998 when she clocked 59.89 in the heats held in the morning. Cindy was the second fastest qualifier at 1:00.29.  

However, it was Cindy who succeeded in joining her elder brother Allen Ong in the record books in the final. Allen is the current SEA Games champion and record holder in the same distance for the men’s competition. 

Heidi, despite settling for silver, managed to improve on her time when she clocked 59.30 in the final.  

Sabah’s Chui Lai Kwan, who broke her national record in the 50m backstroke on Monday, was the third swimmer to go under the one minute barrier. She took the bronze with 59.91. 

Cindy, sporting a butterfly tattoo on the back of her left shoulder, was as surprised as any one, to have brought down the oldest national mark still existing. 

“What! It’s been that long already? I guess it’s my lucky day. 

“I had expected to only go slightly under the national mark. But I did not expect to shave almost one second off the record,” said Cindy, who is set to graduate with a degree in psychology from the University of Drury in Missouri, the United States. 

That was not the only national record to fall yesterday. Cindy had earlier set a new national mark in the 50m butterfly event in the morning heats.  

She clocked 28.58 to erase the previous mark of 30.37 set by Sabah’s Marellyn Liew in the Malaysian Open last year.  

Hardly half an hour after her magnificent effort in the 100m freestyle, she returned to the pool to bag a second gold in the 50m butterfly, finishing with a slower time of 28.77. 

Marellyn took silver with 29.63 while Claudia Leow, also from Sabah, bagged the bronze with a time of 30.24.  

Cindy also competed in the 200m individual medley but finished out of the medals. She ended in fourth place behind KL’s Kathleen Duff, who took bronze with 2:27.72.  

Khoo Cai Lin gave Selangor a third gold when she won in 2:25.84. Selangor took the silver as well through New Zealand-based swimmer Ow Ying Jie, who clocked 2:27.24.