Today At The Games

Competing in various sports from kitefoiling to fencing, equestrian and rowing, seven athletes, who are among those representing Singapore at the Paris 2024 Olympics, share what it means to perform at the top of their game

- Hashirin Nurin Hashimi, Nafeesa Saini, Sabrina Low and Amanda Goh

EQUESTRIAN

CAROLINE CHEW

Olympian Caroline Chew comes from equestrian pedigree. Her mother Melanie did showjumping and dressage, and later helmed the Equestrian Federation of Singapore from 2007 to 2017, and her older sister Catherine, a showjumper, is a Southeast Asian (Sea) Games gold medallist and Asian Games finalist.

When Chew and her gelding Tribiani competed in dressage at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, they made history as the first Singaporean duo to participate in an Olympics equestrian event. “To represent a small country [such as Singapore], which is without much of an equestrian heritage, is such a huge privilege,” says Chew. The pair, however, was prematurely eliminated for a technical rule, “which was traumatic and a big shock”, she shares, crushing her Olympic dreams.

Three years on, the 31‑year‑old will again aim for glory after qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympics. This time, she has a new stallion, Blue Hors Zatchmo, or Mo for short, a 15‑year‑old Grand Prix veteran. Chew has an almost decade‑old bond with the now 20‑year‑old Tribiani, whom she calls Joey (after the character from hit TV series Friends), and over the past two years, she has been working on building a similar partnership with Mo. “He’s extremely talented, much more powerful and stronger than Joey, and also very intelligent,” she shares. “Part of the challenge is improving our communication so we can perform at a high standard and place well. It’s a learning process, but what I love about the sport is that it’s about how two living beings communicate and work together. Horses can’t talk, so you have to find other ways to understand them.”