Heidi overcomes illness to clinch women’s gold

HEIDI Gan lived up to her status as an Olympic swimmer as she blew away the field to clinch the women’s open water 10km race at the Putrajaya Lake yesterday.

Not even a bout of illness could stop the 28-yearold from powering home Malaysia’s sixth gold of the Games with a time of 2’11:02.

Thailand’s Benjaporn Sriphanomthorn (2’16:37) settled for silver and Singapore’s Chantal Liew Li-Shan (2’21:30) took bronze.

Malaysia’s 19-year-old Angela Chieng Chui Fei, who is making her open water debut at the Games, finished fourth in 2’24:54.

But it was two-time Olympian Heidi who stole the show by adding her third open water gold at the Games following her 5km and 10km triumphs in Jakarta six years ago.

“I’m so happy with this win. I’ve worked so hard for this and I’ve yet to have a break since the Rio Olympics last year,” said the Perth-based swimmer.

“My goal was always to win the gold in front of the home crowd. Not only did I want to win, I also wanted to come here and dominate the proceedings.

“I’m so grateful to my coach Matt Magee, who has worked with me for 11 years, and also to my family who flew out here to surprise me.

“It wasn’t easy as I was down with flu and cold. I’m pretty much still on antibiotics.

“But I worked hard to overcome that and I proved that if you want something, you really need to put in the effort for it.

“I’m also really happy that Kevin won his race to make it a double for Malaysia, especially since it’s his last race.”

Heidi, however, was vague about her own future.

“I gave everything I had out there. I’m just exhausted. There’s nothing left in me,” said Heidi.

“I’m not sure how many more races I’ll do. This could possibly be my last race as I do need a break.

“But if this is to be my last race, then it’s really a great way to finish in front of the home crowd.”