Everyone has a unique story to tell. Some stories spread flames of heroic inspiration to others; some melt hearts in warmth, while some simply put smiles on our faces. Every month, SGRunner’s staff writer Wai Kit will speak to such people – people who share their unique stories, and people whose stories are so powerful it defines who they are, and what they want in life.

An Interview with… Lynette Yeo
By Leong Wai Kit

26-year-old Lynette Yeo is a sports junkie. “I started swimming since I was five, and love it since then,” says Lynette. Throughout her life, Lynette has dabbled in, and enjoyed many kinds of sports including high jump, competitive netball, various track-and-field events, and hockey– just to name a few. And Lynette has only two words to say when people give her an unbelieving look that an overweight person like her can do so much sports: “Cannot meh?”

This month, SGRunners speaks to Lynette Yeo, a zestful and passionate sports worker who believes in living life to the fullest. Read on to find out more about her love affair with sports and food, and let her sincere story speak for itself.

Lynette’s passion with sports

Lynette confesses that she can never survive a month without sports. In Lynette’s words:

My mom calls me a ’sportsperson wannabe’. Whenever I watch TV, I’d pay a lot of attention to sports-related stuff such as football matches, sports advertisements and such. Since I was in primary school, I knew I had always wanted to be involved
in sports in one way or another – as an athlete, coach, umpire, sports events organiser, physical education teacher or something like that. I just find this sports concept a very inspiring thing!

I think passion for sports runs in the family. Almost all my extended paternal family members enjoy sports. One of my uncles was a national badminton player in the sixties. My dad, uncles and aunts also enjoy badminton as well, so it’s like a family sports, I think. Mom’s a medical worker so she sometimes gives us tips on sports care. Oh, and she always tells me what to eat and what not to eat!

Lynette and her sporting history

I started swimming since I was five, did high jump, danced, and picked up basketball while I was in primary school. Unfortunately, I had to stop swimming when I was 12 because of eczema. When I went on to secondary school, I picked up netball, and was with the school team for the next four years, where we trained and competed regularly. When I was in secondary one, I was also encouraged by my then PE teacher to try track-and-field. That was when I picked up competitive running, and throwing events such as discus, shot put and javelin. It became an annual routine after that – to take part in track-and-field events every sports day. When I went on to tertiary education, I went on to do Sports and Wellness, where I tried even more sports. While I was in university in Melbourne, I did yoga, picked up swimming and badminton again.

Why still so fat after so much sports?!

(I tried putting Lynette on the spot with an embarrassing question, but her answers came in candid waves of self-mock, sincerity and hints of self-confidence).

I’m rather lazy at times, I must admit, and I’m really greedy when it comes to food! I’ve got great cooks in my family! I can NEVER resist mom’s ‘Ayam Buah Keluak’ dish and my aunt’s Mee Siam! Plus, I am a HUGE procrastinator (Lynette laughs at this point) so sometimes I put sports off for food!

Lynette’s thoughts on doing sports as an overweight person

“Cannot meh?” Lynette says teasingly. Indeed, Lynette’s casual retort is a reminder of just how myopic our eyes have become, as we choose to see only society’s created image of slim, tanned and sporty-looking people as sportsmen.

I don’t have anything much to say to people who don’t believe in me for the way I look. Someday, they’ll know me for my worth and what’s inside of me. Besides, it’s pretty nice to be an underdog! I remain passionate about sports no matter how fat people may say I am. I mean, looks is something, but it ISN’T EVERYTHING. So to give my unfair share of comments about sports and image, I can even rudely label those who try to look sporty for their own image as ‘posers’ with a nice but empty shell, can’t I? Fat people can definitely do sports but to be realistic, it really has to depend on the nature of the sport. Of course, health limitations can sometimes be a hindrance to sports performance, so that’s something to think about.

As for me, I have definitely thought of losing weight, but only because of health reasons. Unfortunately for me, I can no longer do running after I injured my knees about a few years ago. I am currently on medication, but I am still doing alternative exercises that don’t strain too much of my knees. Being an overweight person who loves sports can sound very contradicting, and it is painful at the same time. People just seem to judge me for the way I look, and discredit me at times. But at the end of the day, the biggest critic to myself is really myself. If I can accept the way I am and stand by my beliefs, then nobody can have the ability to make me feel any smaller than I wish I were.

Lynette’s take on sportsmanship

I’m going to use someone I admire to illustrate what sportsmanship means to me. I know of this ‘Uncle’ who used to work with me while I was a sports-events organiser. He is always the first to reach the race site to load up the logistics, and the last person to leave the site when the race is over. He does most of the cleaning and logistics work, and talks the least. He can easily be mistaken for an elderly, retired cleaning subcontractor, because he is 60 over years old. But the truth about Uncle is, he is a sportsman himself. He refused to be acknowledged as a sportsman who had once completed a 10km swim as the oldest participant. Instead, he chose to keep a low profile, while enjoying sports. Now THAT is a true iron man, and that is sportsmanship to me. It lies not in the image or in the form of words. The true form of sportsmanship lies in the heart of the sportsman. And with time, the sportsmanship will shine through no matter how you look.

Lynette’s current sporting interest is swimming, where she trains with a group of close friends every week. Lynette says she finds joy in the water, after having not swum regularly since she got eczema. SGRunners learns that Lynette’s most satisfied achievement in swimming is her current personal best in freestyle: 30 laps in 35 minutes.

Some of Lynette’s past sporting achievements include inter-varsity games for 2 yrs in netball, participating in the NIE Biathlon 2005, winning various running medals including a gold medal in her secondary school’s 4×400m cross country even, and trophies for coming in within the top 15 positions in her school’s cross country event, for a consecutive two years period.