Neo Chwee Kok began competing in swimming in 1947 and became the first Singaporean swimmer to compete at top international levels. Chwee Kok won four gold medals in 1951 at the Asian Games in New Delhi, winning the 400, 800 and 1,500 m freestyle as well as the 4 x 100 m freestyle relay; While he held one of the top 100 m times at the time of the Helsinki Olympics, he failed to proceed past the heats due to inexperience with large international events and the cold weather. In 1953 he was third on the world list for the 100 freestyle and narrowly lost a 1954 race to Jon Henricks, the 1956 Olympic champion in the 100 freestyle. Neo himself did not attend the Melbourne Games, as he had been declared a professional after becoming superintendent at the Yan Kit pool, his country’s second public pool. His last major international tournament were the 1954 Asian Games, here he took a bronze in the 100 m freestyle, and a silver in the 4 x 100 m relay. He later coached the Singapore Swimming Club. Known as the Flying Fish, it was said of Chwee Kok that he put Singapore on the world swimming map. In 1999, he was ranked 3rd in the list of Singapore’s 50 Greatest Athletes.
Singapore