SEA Games: Swimmer Amanda Lim enlists social media to find young fan
UPDATE: This story has been updated tat 11:30am to indicate that Lim has found the girl in the video.
Singapore swimmer Amanda Lim, who won a gold in the 50m freestyle at the SEA Games, has sought the help of netizens to find a young supporter who cheered for her in Kuala Lumpur.
On Monday night (28 Aug), Lim posted a video on her social media accounts of a young girl in the stands at the National Aquatic Centre who waved at her after the victory ceremony of Lim’s event.
The girl was seen rushing down the stands, only to see Lim toss the Games mascot to her family members.
Lim wrote, “To the small little girl in the stands cheering on the night of my 50m freestyle race, I am sorry I did not see you hurrying down all the way from the top of the stands after the victory ceremony. I waved to my family from the poolside to thank them for coming down to support me and to give them the games mascot. It must be all the elation I was feeling that somehow clouded me from seeing anyone else other than my family from the crowd.”
Lim urged readers to share her post to help identify the girl so that she could send her a mascot “as a gesture of appreciation and apology for not seeing her that night”.
Lim’s Facebook post has been shared over 1,000 times since last night.
As of Tuesday morning, it is believed that the girl has been identified. A Facebook user by the name of Chris Weng wrote a post identifying herself as the aunt of the girl. She wrote, “It is indeed my amazing little niece, who happens to be an awesome swimmer and a huge fan of team Singapore. They are now connected and I [just] have to say it’s great to know that there’s still such heart and love in the world and that social media can really be powered to light up lives in this way instead.”
Lim, who is on holiday at the moment, confirmed via text message to Yahoo News Singapore that she had made contact with the girl, and plans to send her an autographed mascot and shirts.
Lim’s gold medal in the 50m freestyle made her the fastest woman in Southeast Asia in the event. She has won this event five SEA Games in a row – this time, eclipsing her previous mark of 25.69s in a new Games record and lifetime personal best of 25.41s.
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