''Tao Li's parents have a tradition: They stay away from meets
that their daughter is competing in. This, after a bad loss when
her parents were around some years back. -- MARC LIM/THE STRAITS
TIMES''
Tao Li's parents,both are swimming coach.
Mum works in a private swimming club in Singapore ,
father in Wuhan,PRC.
following fromStrait Times 11 aug 2008
<!-- headline one : end --> <!-- Author --> By Marc
Lim, Sports Correspondent
BEIJING - SHE may have raised her for 18 years. But Li Yan,
mother of Singapore's swimming sensation Tao Li, still never fails
to be surprised by her only child.
Like when she moved to Singapore, aged 13, not knowing a word of
English.
Like when she won the Asian Games gold medal in the 50m
butterfly in 2006.
And like yesterday, when she became the first Singaporean
swimmer to reach an Olympic swimming final.
Yet, the biggest surprise of all came after her 100m butterfly
semi-final.
'She called and I was telling her how proud I was that she had
made the final, how proud I was that she broke the Asian record,'
said Li Yan, the first person Tao Li called minutes after the
race.
'Then she stopped and said, 'Ma, I want the medal'.
'I didn't know what to say at first. Then I told her that she's
already surpassed expectations and that she should just go out and
swim her best tomorrow.
'But that's Tao Li. She's always been competitive.'
Li Yan recounted a time when her daughter was growing up in
Wuhan. There was a local meet that Tao Li was confident of winning.
She made sure her parents were present for the event.
But she lost and was so upset that she did not want her parents
around for any more meets for fear of 'losing face'.
Tao Li has grown out of that now. But Li Yan, who flew to
Beijing from Singapore, where she works as a coach, and Tao Li's
father Tao Ran, who came from Wuhan, still keep to the
'tradition'.
They have not seen their daughter since Saturday. As Li Yan put
it: 'We don't want to distract her too much.'
But they will be seeing her today, after the race.
Tao Li's coaches feel that a medal is not beyond her. Peter
Churchill, her coach at the Singapore Sports School and David Lim,
who trains her at Swimfast Aquatic Club, said with the times so
close, all eight swimmers stand a chance.
Just over a second separates top qualifier Libby Trickett of
Australia (57.05sec) from Brazil's Gabriella Silva (58.39), the
last-placed qualifier.
But, having broken two personal bests in two days, would another
big swim be too much to ask?
Li Yan could be in for another surprise.''---end of quote
