Malaysian swimmer
Nurul Huda Abdullah, also known as Ch'ng Su-Lin, AMN (born 31 July 1972) is a former Malaysian competitive swimmer.
She is Malaysia's most successful athlete (female) in the swimming events.
She holds the record of the most number of gold medals won at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) for a Malaysian athlete, with a total of 22 gold medals in the swimming events at three SEA Games editions from 1985 to 1989.
She was the first Malaysian swimmer to win a medal at the Asian Games[1] and remains the only Malaysian female swimmer to have won medals at the Asian Games and Asian Swimming Championships, with a total of 2 silver and 2 bronze medals at the 10th Asian Games 1986 Seoul, and a total of 2 silver and 1 bronze medal at the 3rd Asian Swimming Championship (1988) in Guangzhou.
She participated in the swimming events at the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.
As a result of her swimming achievements, she was the first Malaysian to be awarded an IOC Trophy from the International Olympic Committee in 1987, and was inducted into the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) Hall of Fame in 2004.[2] She was awarded the Malaysian Sportswoman of the Year for five consecutive years from 1985 to 1989.
She was the Deputy Chef-de-Mission for the Malaysian Contingent to the 30th SEA Games (2019) in Philippines.[3]
Swimming career
Southeast Asian Games
Nurul competed in 4 editions of the SEA Games from 1983 to 1989, and won a total of 22 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze medals.
This achievement makes her Malaysia's most successful athlete at the SEA Games, holding the record of the most number of gold medals won at the SEA Games, a record which still stands today.
This was Nurul's first participation at the SEA Games, as a young 10-year old.
She competed in 2 events, where she ranked 4th in the 400m individual medley, and 8th in the 800m freestyle.
Nurul's second SEA Games participation was in 1985.
She competed in 9 events, and won a total of 7 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals, breaking 6 SEA Games records at the same time.
During this competition, she became the first female in Southeast Asia to break 1 minute for the 100m freestyle, and 9 minutes for the 800m freestyle.
Despite experiencing a health setback 3 months prior to the Games when she had contracted glandular fever, Nurul managed to continue her participation in this edition of the Games.
She won a total of 7 gold and 1 silver medals from the 8 events that she competed in.
Nurul's fourth and last participation in the regional multi-sport games was also her most successful.
She competed in 10 events in this edition, and won a total of 8 gold and 2 silver medals, breaking 4 SEA Games records and 2 national records in the process.
As a result of her performances at the Games, she was awarded the Most Valuable Athlete (Female) of the 15th SEA Games Kuala Lumpur 1989.[4]
Commonwealth Games
Despite being selected to participate in two editions of the Commonwealth Games, Nurul was never able to participate in the Commonwealth Games, through circumstances out of her control.
Nurul did not participate in this edition of the Commonwealth Games due to Malaysia's decision to boycott the 1986 Commonwealth Games.
Nurul withdrew from participation for this edition of the Commonwealth due to minor injuries suffered when her family vehicle had been involved in a minor collision with a semi-trailer in the weeks leading up to the Games.[5]
Asian Games
Nurul competed in 2 editions of the Asian Games, in 1986 and 1990, and won a total of 2 silver and 2 bronze medals in the swimming events.
This achievement makes her Malaysia's most successful athlete (female) in the swimming events at the Asian Games.
She was the first Malaysian athlete to have won medals in the swimming events at the Asian Games, and remains the only Malaysian female swimmer to have done so.
In her maiden appearance at the Asian Games, she won 2 silver and 2 bronze medals out of the 4 swimming events she competed in.
She was the first Malaysian athlete to have won medals in the swimming events at the Asian Games.
During this competition, she also became the first female in Southeast Asia to break 5 minutes for the 400m individual medley.
- 11th Asian Games Beijing (1990)
This edition of the Asian Games was the final competition in Nurul's swimming career.
She competed in 3 swimming events but did not win any medals.
She competed in 3 events and won 2 silver and 1 bronze medals.
Olympic Games
Nurul competed in 3 swimming events at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games where she ranked 19th in the 800m freestyle, ranked 23rd in the 400m freestyle, and ranked 27th in the 200m freestyle.
Personal life
Nurul is the granddaughter of the 4th President of Singapore, Dr. Wee Kim Wee.[7]
Malaysia
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