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2024-03-15 14:52:38 +08:00
<div><p>
SINGAPORE: Seven years.
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Of pressure, of pain, of doubt. Of trying harder, of getting faster, of growing wiser.
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There are now brown streaks in her hair, seven tattoos inked on her skin, and three goals on her mind.
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Give everything. Enjoy yourself. Send a message.
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And as she prepared herself for the women&#39;s 200m final at the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi, sprinter Shanti Pereira would repeat a mantra. Over and over and over again.
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&#34;No matter what happens, you&#39;ll be good.&#34;
</p><figure><img src="https://onecms-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--vFj831Mo--/c_fill%2Cg_auto%2Ch_468%2Cw_830/fl_relative%2Cg_south_east%2Cl_one-cms:core:watermark:ap_data-1%2Cw_0.1/f_auto%2Cq_auto/v1/one-cms/core/vietnam_sea_games_56918.jpg?itok=UFu9Mduo"/><figcaption>From left to right, Pereira Veronica Shanti of Singapore, Kyla Ashley Richardson Maico, Kyla Anise Richardson Maico of Philippines and Hoang Thi Ngoc of Vietnam compete during the women&#39;s 200M run in the Athletics competition during the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) in Hanoi, Vietnam Saturday, May 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Minh Hoang)</figcaption></figure><h2>
<strong>SELF-DOUBT</strong>
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To understand what the race felt like to Pereira, one has to go back to the 2015 Games in Singapore.
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At the meet, she would win gold in the 200m, clock a personal best and set a new national record. The win also ended a 42-year gold medal drought for Singapore in a Games sprint event.
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A new sprint queen had arrived.
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“I was just excited to be there, competing in front of a home crowd,” recalled Pereira, who also clinched a bronze in the 100m.
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But with the weight of winning came the enormity of expectations.
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“It created a lot of pressure and I feel like I didn&#39;t have the experience to cope with it yet,” she explained.
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The next edition of the Games would end in tears for Pereira, as she finished with a pair of bronzes in the 100m and 200m.
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Then came two injuries in 2018, before she would finish with two bronzes again at the 2019 Games.
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&#34;Physically for the longest time, I was there. I (felt I) could do a PB (personal best), NR (national record) and all that but mentally I wasn&#39;t there,&#34; she said.
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&#34;There was a lot of self-doubt that kind of grew as the years went by. Just because it was like - again another season I couldn&#39;t get a PB, and it just continued and continued and continued.&#34;
</p><figure><img src="https://onecms-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--_YxbqbOX--/c_fill%2Cg_auto%2Ch_468%2Cw_830/f_auto%2Cq_auto/v1/cna-migration/singapore-s-shanti-pereira.jpg?itok=SZt91-79"/><figcaption>Singapore&#39;s Shanti Pereira competes in the women&#39;s 200m heats at the Tokyo Olympics on Aug 2, 2021. (Photo: Facebook/Singapore National Olympic Council/Kong Chew Yew)</figcaption></figure><p>
And some people began to write her off, said Pereira.
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&#34;Slowly, people just kind of lost faith in me. People have their opinions about my journey, and whatnot. I think, for a while there, I really did let it get to me, which is not ideal. I want to be in a state mentally strong and things like that don&#39;t affect me, but for a while it really did.&#34;
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The negativity ate her up, added Pereira. It got to the point that there were times when she was no longer excited to compete or even train.
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Instead, what she felt was fear.
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&#34;I couldn&#39;t find any motivation,&#34; she recalled. &#34;Coming to training, I was just always afraid of doing bad times at training and just not doing well at training.&#34;
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<strong>FEEDING OFF A DIFFERENT ENERGY</strong>
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Sandwiched among the lows were highs too.
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Pereira clocked a new 100m PB of 11.58 seconds at the 2019 Asian Athletic Championships, and also made her Olympic debut in Tokyo where she ran a season&#39;s best time in the heats.
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But even with the Olympics, 2021 was a &#34;rough&#34; year, revealed Pereira.
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Off the track, she decided to pursue a career unrelated to her Singapore Management University accountancy degree. On the track, the results were not &#34;showing up&#34;.
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&#34;I felt like I suffered a bit of an identity crisis. I started to believe what people said about me, that maybe Ive reached my end. And if so, who was I?&#34; she said.
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But speaking to the ones close to her helped.
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&#34;They&#39;ve helped me a lot, to realise that I am fine, I am okay. It&#39;s really just a change of a mindset that I had to try to do,&#34; she said.
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In the lead up to this year&#39;s Games, Pereira did just that.
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&#34;I reached a point where I just told myself that it really doesn&#39;t matter what people think of you,&#34; she said. &#34;I have people in my corner, and they really believe in me. They have absolute trust in me that I am not at the end of my career. And I think I just fed off that energy more.&#34;
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She looked inward.
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&#34;I can only focus on the things that I can control - which is how I approach the Games, how I approach training, all these things,&#34; she said.
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&#34;Whatever people are gonna say, they&#39;re gonna say. It doesn&#39;t matter. What matters is how I do things, making sure that I do whatever I can and give absolutely everything to my races.&#34;
</p><img src="https://onecms-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--7uAHXeAV--/c_crop%2Ch_3285%2Cw_5840%2Cx_0%2Cy_57/c_fill%2Cg_auto%2Ch_98%2Cw_175/f_auto%2Cq_auto/v1/mediacorp/cna/image/2022/05/14/20220514_athletics_reu_002.jpg?itok=YsKmIsDc"/><h6>
<a href="/sport/shanti-pereira-wins-200m-gold-sea-games-new-national-record-2685176"><span>Shanti Pereira wins 200m gold at SEA Games in new national record</span></a>
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And going into this year&#39;s Games, there was a sense of calm, recalled Pereira.
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&#34;That was ultimately what I wanted. I wanted to just chill. This is my thing, I&#39;m just going to go there and do the best I can.&#34; 
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And this would mean channelling a similar outlook that she had seven years ago.
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&#34;That&#39;s the kind of mindset I wanted to be in. I wanted to just relax and have fun and just enjoy the fact that I&#39;m here racing,&#34; she said. 
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<strong>&#39;I&#39;M STILL HERE, I&#39;VE STILL GOT IT&#34;</strong>
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Her legs are a whir, her heart thumping like a drum, her eyes fixed on the finish line.
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At the My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi, along the final stretch of the 200m race, Pereira is ahead. 
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To her left, a Filipino opponent gains on her, but the Singaporean is not letting this one slip away. Not today.
</p><figure><img src="https://onecms-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--GaMVSd4C--/c_fill%2Cg_auto%2Ch_468%2Cw_830/fl_relative%2Cg_south_east%2Cl_one-cms:core:watermark:ap_data-1%2Cw_0.1/f_auto%2Cq_auto/v1/one-cms/core/vietnam_sea_games_20701.jpg?itok=XMgAlyrp"/><figcaption>Gold medalist Pereira Veronica Shanti of Singapore celebrates with the national flag after the women&#39;s 200M run in the Athletics competition during 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) in Hanoi, Vietnam Saturday, May 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Minh Hoang)</figcaption></figure><p>
Personal best. National record. Gold medal.
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The 18-year-old with the blue glitter hairband is gone. Theres no exuberant waving to the crowd, no gleeful smile of joy. 
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Instead, the 25-year-old is floored. Exhaustion, disbelief and the sheer magnitude of what she has done overwhelm her.
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&#34;I told myself before the finals that no matter what the result is, I&#39;m going to give 100 per cent. Everything I have, physically, mentally, emotionally. Everything,&#34; Pereira explained.
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Her message - not just to others, but also to herself - rang loud and clear. 
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&#34;Im still here, Ive still got it,&#34; she said. Days later, Pereira would add another medal to her tally, a silver in the 100m.
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Even till today, what she achieved at the Games still hasn&#39;t fully sunk in. And isn&#39;t just about the victory or the timing, but the &#34;breakthrough&#34;, she explained.
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&#34;I put in a lot of hard work and sacrifice to be able to make that breakthrough,&#34; she explained. &#34;This wasn&#39;t the first time where I wanted to do that. I wanted to do this for a really long time. The fact that I actually did it is quite amazing to me.&#34;
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Pereira&#39;s coach Luis Cunha said he was confident in Pereira&#39;s ability to perform the way she did.
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&#34;(With the performance at the SEA Games) she showed herself that she was able to clock the times. But she also knew what I told her (previously) - that she can do it,&#34; he said.
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&#34;Now she can confirm my thoughts with the performance. I hope that this allows her to go further and continue to improve this season.&#34;
</p><figure><img src="https://onecms-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--7sXJd_AH--/c_crop%2Ch_2025%2Cw_3600%2Cx_0%2Cy_5/c_fill%2Cg_auto%2Ch_468%2Cw_830/f_auto%2Cq_auto/v1/mediacorp/cna/image/2022/06/01/shanti_sea_games.jpeg?itok=5ATUZETU" alt=""/><figcaption>Shanti Pereira poses with her SEA Games gold medal. (Photo: SportSG/Jeremy Lee)</figcaption></figure><h2>
<strong>A NEW CHAPTER</strong>
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Being able to continue with the same mindset remains a work in progress, noted Pereira.
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&#34;It&#39;s still a process. I learned from what I did at the SEA Games, and I want to continue doing that. But it&#39;s still hard.&#34;
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And she will aim to build on this, with the Commonwealth Games and the World Athletics Championships still to come later this year.
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&#34;It took so much out of me to be able to have that mindset, so I just want to learn from it and continue with this mindset,&#34; Pereira added.
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Pereira has yet to to have a discussion with Cunha on her specific goals for these meets. But she already knows, at the very least, she wants to bring down her times.
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&#34;I want to go faster (than I did at the SEA Games), for sure. And I feel like I can. That&#39;s the goal. Just do whatever I can in the next few months to try and hopefully go faster for both the 100m and 200m.&#34;
</p><img src="https://onecms-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--T7QfbFxI--/c_crop%2Ch_843%2Cw_1500%2Cx_0%2Cy_38/c_fill%2Cg_auto%2Ch_98%2Cw_175/f_auto%2Cq_auto/v1/mediacorp/cna/image/2022/05/18/dl_0ccn4.jpeg?itok=Z6MfPL7q"/><h6>
<a href="/sport/shanti-pereira-and-marc-brian-louis-win-silver-and-bronze-sea-games-respective-100m-events-2690506"><span>Shanti Pereira and Marc Brian Louis win silver and bronze at SEA Games in respective 100m events</span></a>
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After Pereira&#39;s first Games gold, her older sisters Valerie and Shobi were inspired to write a childrens book to tell the story of her journey and triumph.
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