High jumper Michelle Sng claws her way back from injury to win bronze
When high jumper Michelle Sng set a new national record in 2006, she expected a lot more to come from her future self in the sport.
But a stress fracture on her left shin in 2007 derailed her plans and although she underwent surgery a year later, things were never the same. Sng eventually decided to hang up her spikes in 2011.
However, in a remarkable turnaround, she came back to the sport last year - and proved that she still had it, raising her own previous mark of 1.80m to 1.84m in March’s Philippines Open.
And then on Friday, the 28-year-old brought home Singapore’s first women’s high jump medal in the SEA Games in 40 years when she soared to bronze at the National Stadium.
‘I clawed my way back’
“After breaking the national record [in 2006], I had a lot of expectations for myself but unfortunately I did not manage to meet them and the next couple of years were not great,” Sng explained afterwards.
“So this is actually really sweet for me - after letting go of the sport and then having to really claw my way back in again.”
Sng admitted that she missed the sport during her three-year hiatus, which did her “some good”. Spurred by the strong support from her training partners, friends and especially her coach Chan See Huey, she started training in December 2013 in a bid to earn her spikes again.
“I had to leave the sport because I wasn’t clearing the heights I wanted after my injury and so the long break allowed me to recover not just physically, but also psychologically from the really dark days,” she recalled wistfully.
“It was quite hard at the beginning because having not moved your body that way for many years, it was really difficult. There were lots of tears and I must admit that there were times I wanted to give up, but I think it was the support system I had that really kept me through it.”
Bronze on Games debut
The 1.67m-tall jumper cleared 1.81m to medal on her Games debut, but admitted that perhaps her tendency to get “overexcited” hindered her from rewriting her own record.
Sng cleared both the 1.78m and 1.81m heights on the third attempts, but failed at the 1.83m mark. 2013 silver medallist Wanida Boonwan of Thailand took gold in 1.85m, with Vietnam’s Pham Thi Diem second in 1.83m. Both have jumped over 1.90m in their careers.
“I think I was more excited than I was nervous, which is perhaps something that I need to work on,” she reflected. “It’s been a really, really long time since I’ve competed at such a high level, after taking such a long break.”
More to come
Sng will return to “regular life” as a full-time teacher this Sunday, but she is determined to hang around for much longer this time round.
After all, Spanish high jumper Ruth Beitia showed earlier this month that age is just a number when, at 36 years and two months, she jumped two metres in Rome at the IAAF Diamond League.
“She is the oldest woman ever to clear two metres, so I still have a good eight years in me,” Sng chuckled.
“I have more competitions to come in the next two three years…I did hope to break the national record [tonight and] unfortunately didn’t manage to do it.
"But you’ll definitely see national records coming your way from me.”
