Swimmer wins big in special events

As a volunteer coach for three decades, Siu Yu-ning has been helping young swimmers with physical challenges to improve their performances in the Macao Special Administrative Region.

But it took Siu some time before discovering Chen Yu-chia's gift in swimming.

Chen, born in 1998, is autistic. His parents found out after noticing that he was not able to clearly express himself and had difficulty interacting. His father discovered that Chen's mood changed when he was in water. His parents then decided to train him to swim.

Chen won a silver medal in the men's 400m freestyle S14 at the 11th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the eighth National Special Olympic Games, held in Northwest China's Shaanxi province from Oct 22 through Friday. He won another three bronze medals in the men's 200m freestyle S14, 100m butterfly S14 and 200m individual medley SM14.

The S14 events in swimming are usually held for athletes with some mental challenges.

Chen's teammates Choi Chi-hou and Sou Chi-ngai, and female swimmer Wong Chi-ian also gave impressive performances, often breaking their personal best times, according to Macao Special Olympics, a branch of the global organization Special Olympics.

Chen got his first medal in international games for people with intellectual disabilities in 2011.

Nevertheless, keeping faith that Chen could achieve more beyond the special events, Siu took him to participate in the 58th Macao Open Swimming Championships, the region's highest level of competition, in 2014, and Chen won the men's 1,500m freestyle.

In fact, Chen won three gold medals and two silver medals during the last national special games, held in Tianjin in 2019.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has kept the athletes from training, they have shown their perseverance, the official website of Macao Special Olympics says.

Siu says he has a full-time job but has volunteered to coach for 32 years, accompanying generations of athletes.

Now, over 300 athletes participate in the regular training programs hosted by the Macao Special Olympics.

Today's parents are more willing to take their children with conditions to learn different sports, Siu says.

The Macao Special Olympics organizers are also working with local schools to find students with interest in swimming. Apart from full-time coaches, they also have college students majoring in the field joining as volunteers. They usually train at public swimming pools at fixed times.

According to Siu, with the increasing input of resources, athletes have improved their performances a lot.

Taking the 50m freestyle as an example, he says, athletes have improved their times from 38 seconds to around 31 seconds.

Via cooperation with China Disabled Persons' Federation in Beijing, the Macao athletes have also been training in Guangdong province, where coaches were able to discuss how to make better training plans and help the athletes more.

"There have been sports exchanges between people with physical challenges in Macao and those on the mainland, but the scale and form of exchanges have not been constant," says Siu Yu-hong, executive director of Macao Special Olympics.

He says he hopes regular cooperation can be set up in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, especially in light of the national games to be held there in 2025.