Former national swimmer and one of Malaysia’s first Olympians, Lim Heng Chek, died on Saturday. He was 85.
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Heng Chek, who was part of Malaya’s contingent for the 1954 Melbourne Olympics, breathed his last at the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC).
Former Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) secretary-general Datuk Sieh Kok Chi said: “I first met him in the 1950s, and we used to train together at the Chin Woo Club in Kuala Lumpur.
“Eventually, he joined the teaching line and became a schoolteacher.
“He was in the swimming team for the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 and is one of our very few early Olympians.
“He also made a name in the 1959 SEAP Games in Bangkok by winning two gold medals.
“He contributed a lot to the sport, both as an athlete and later as a coach and administrator with the Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia.”
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OCM, in a statement yesterday, described the demise of Heng Chek as a great loss to the swimming fraternity in Malaysia.
“Heng Chek was a great athlete who had participated in all four major multi-sport Games under the jurisdiction of Federation of Malaya Olympic Council (FMOC), namely the Olympic Games, British Empire and Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games,” said OCM.
At the Melbourne Olympics, he clocked 1:12.4s in the men’s 100m backstroke event.
He also participated in the first SEAP Games in 1959, where he won gold in the 100m backstroke and butterfly events. He also won the 100m backstroke silver at the second SEAP Games in Yangon in 1961.
Heng Chek, who founded the famed Ikan Bilis Swimming Club, also coached Selangor and the national team for 15 years from 1964 to 1979.
In 2013, Heng Chek was inducted into OCM’s Hall of Fame for his contributions to the development of swimming in various capacities.-NST