Cheyenne Goh is Singapore's first winter Olympian
Almost a week after learning that she had made history by becoming the first Singaporean to qualify for the Winter Olympics, short track speed skater Cheyenne Goh still cannot believe she will be competing at February's Pyeongchang Games in South Korea.
Even after the 18-year-old's spot was confirmed officially yesterday after the qualified quota places for the sport were released by the International Skating Union (ISU), Goh, who will compete in the women's 1,500m event, said last night: "It feels so crazy. I know it's true, but there's still a part of me that doesn't really believe it.
"It's been quite unreal, but still slowly sinking in... I'm definitely very excited, but also a bit nervous because it's the biggest sporting event in the world."
Goh earned her spot after competing at the ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating events, which were qualifying competitions for the Winter Games.
The four World Cup competitions, which took place from September and concluded last weekend, were held in Budapest, Dordrecht, Shanghai and Seoul.
A skater's three best performances out of the four competitions were considered for qualification.
Goh's chances of qualifying were boosted when she reached the semi-finals of the Shanghai leg two weeks ago, finishing 20th and earning points that helped her qualification effort.
After a 51st-placed finish at the Seoul competition last weekend, she knew she had qualified.
Her spot at next year's Games was made official yesterday.
"(Qualifying for the Winter Olympic Games) was a bit of a stretch for this year - I hoped that I would make it, but I wasn't expecting it," said the Singaporean, who returned from the August SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur with two silvers and one bronze.
She is based in Canada, but will be in Singapore to prepare for the Feb 9-25 Games.
"Right now, I'm just going to focus on training and preparing for the competition... I have a lot to work on and improve," said Goh, who in February was the first local female short track speed skater to compete at the Asian Winter Games.
She was also the first Singaporean woman to feature at the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in March.
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