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Eight years ago in Chungju, Aisyah missed out on making the A final at the qualifier, but went on to win the B final and qualify for Rio.
“In 2016, that was one of the best races I’ve ever done, and this was totally at the other extreme end,” she said.
What the Singaporean did not realise was that current qualification rules bumped her Japanese competitor who finished second in the event, out of qualification contention.
This was because Japan had also won the men’s and women’s double sculls events at the continental qualifier, automatically taking up the country’s Olympic spots.
“I know the Japanese girl and its hard for me to accept it as an athlete. I totally feel her,” said Aisyah.
“But I think I also think I need to learn to embrace the fact that I chose to do this. I got to the A final and this is how the game is being played.”
“IT’S OKAY BEING 36”
Aisyah has a number of SEA Games medals to her name, and made headlines in 2013, after winning Singapore’s first individual rowing gold.
She then turned her sights to the Rio Olympics.
But her road to Rio was by no means easy, as she had to drain her savings and took to crowd-funding to raise money for her training and living expenses in Sydney to fund her Olympic dream.
She eventually raised S$14,000 (US$10,300), and her finances improved after she was awarded the SpexScholarship, which provides athletes with stipends and other support to help them achieve success at the Asian, world and Olympic level.
Aisyah would eventually become the first Singaporean rower to qualify for the Olympics and finished 23rd at the Rio Games.
After retiring in 2017, it was late last year that she began to consider making a comeback.
But it was an incredibly tough decision to make, she said.
“I have pretty much everything in front of me, I have a job, I have a house, I have a husband. Why would I want to put myself into such uncomfortable situations, especially when the results are unknown?” Aisyah added.
“It was quite a bit of expenses put aside (to do this) … So there was that fear of what if I didn’t get the job done.”
But at the same time, she wanted to challenge herself.
“I feel very strong and fit and I wanted to challenge myself to see how fast I can make the boat move still. I’m always about discovering myself,” said Aisyah.
“Throughout the whole journey, I kept on reminding myself: ‘It’s okay, this is all just a bonus’. That kept me going.”
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