By Ahmad Nazrin Syahmi Mohamad Arif
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 (Bernama) -- The long-distance queen of the 2024 Malaysia Games (SUKMA), Esther Joy Chen, aspires to become the first Malaysian triathlete to compete in the Olympic Games.
The 21-year-old national triathlon champion has set her sights on participating in the Brisbane 2032 Olympics but will strive to seize the opportunity to compete earlier at the Los Angeles 2028 edition.
To realise her dream, she is focusing on improving her skills in swimming, her weakest discipline in triathlon, which includes cycling and running.
“I hope to be the first Malaysian to make it to the Olympics in triathlon. I’ve always wanted to go to the Olympics, so I feel like the eagerness has always been there. Whether I make it or not is something else, but it won’t hurt to try.
“I think LA (2028 edition) seems a bit near; probably the 2032 edition. But if I can make it to LA, of course, I want to go. My swimming is the thing that is holding me back. I want to improve my swimming and my placing overall,” she told Bernama recently.
At the 2024 SUKMA in Kuching recently, Esther made a sensational final appearance at the national biennial sports event by winning gold for Selangor in the women’s 5,000 metres (m), 10,000m and 3,000m steeplechase events.
Esther participated in athletics because triathlon was not contested at SUKMA. She was a wushu exponent in the 2018 SUKMA in Perak before taking up running and triathlon after COVID-19 struck.
She represented Malaysia at the SEA Games in Hanoi in 2022 and finished sixth in the elite women's triathlon event.
Her triathlon idols are 2020 Olympic gold medallist Flora Duffy of Bermuda and 2023 Ironman World Champion Lucy Charles-Barclay of England.
Besides aiming to be an Olympian, the third of four siblings also dreams of opening her own cafe.
“We (siblings) didn't get to go to cafes when young but later my mother and I used to go on cafe dates. So it’s like a special thing; I feel like the cafe is a very nice and special place, very relaxing,” said Esther, who is also skilled in baking cakes.
“From young, I have enjoyed baking cakes and helping my mother every Christmas. Eventually, when my mother was busy, I did the baking.
"At first cookies then birthday cakes. Now, it's sourdough bread and all the nicest things,” she added.
-- BERNAMA
