SINGAPORE — National para-swimmer Theresa Goh may have finished last overall in the 200m freestyle S5 heats at the Rio Paralympics on Thursday night (Sept 8), but the 29-year-old is not upset with herself. 

In fact, Goh, who was the first of the 13-strong Singapore contingent in Rio to see action, was pretty pleased with how things turned out, despite finishing 12th in the 12-strong field.

This is because she was using the event to warm up for her pet event, Saturday’s 100m breaststroke SB4 race, in which she is gunning for her first Paralympic medal in four editions of the Games.

In a phone interview with TODAY, Goh, who clocked 4min 02.37s, way off her season’s best of 3min 32.74s, revealed that she had used the 200m freestyle heats to mentally and psychologically prepare herself for her main event.

Goh even used the breaststroke — the slowest of the four competitive strokes — to swim the first 50m.

“That was confusing to some, but it was intentional. It was good. I kind of always need that first race to get my nerves out of the way a little bit,” she said. “My coach and I had a plan, which was to (use the race to) benefit me for my next race.

“So that time for the first 50m breaststroke (52.99s) is a good indication of what I can go out in over the 100m. I just need to be able to hold on for the next 50m. I’ll still be nervous for the 100m breaststroke race because it is my pet event, but I am just trying to get as comfortable and as relaxed as I can for race day.”

Goh is feeling the butterflies because she had finished fifth in the 100m breaststroke in her Paralympics debut in Athens in 2004, and  fourth four years later in Beijing. Tomorrow’s race will be her third attempt at the event.

Her coach, Mick Massey, who observed recently that Goh had “regained her fire” in swimming, said that his charge is on track towards finally breaking that Paralympics medal duck. But the former coach of the British Paralympics swim team said Goh will have to translate her hunger and desire for a medal into her swimming. 

“Potentially, the key is to get onto the podium (of the 100m breaststroke),” he said. “It is going to be a very tough race, because there could be, from what I am seeing, six girls in the final who all have times that are close enough to get them onto the podium. I can see it will be a dogfight in the last 50m.

“I know that Theresa has got the heart for that fight. She is going to need it, because it is going to come down to that. When it comes to the last 15m, 20m of the race, it will hurt very badly, (and) the swimmers with the biggest hearts will get onto the podium.”

Meanwhile, fellow national swimmer Yip Pin Xiu’s first race — the 100m backstroke S2 — is scheduled to take place at 4.49am Saturday morning.

Yip’s race is a straight final, and could present the chance for Singapore to bag its first Paralympics medal in Rio. Yip, 24, holds the world record of 2:09.79.