Reinventing the oar: Saiyidah Aisyah's Paris comeback

Saiyidah Aisyah retired from competitive rowing following the 2016 Rio Olympics but has returned eight years later to the sport that made her famous.

Singapore’s first-ever Olympic rower Saiyidah Aisyah qualified for the Paris Olympics after the worst race of her life. “It was terrible. I remember just being at the dock. Like I docked my boat and I was just telling my coach I'm sorry,” she said. It was the opposite of her previous Olympic qualification ahead of Rio in 2016, when she turned in such a ferocious performance that she could barely walk when she docked her scull—a single person boat with two oars.

Aisyah had been nursing a high fever for the entire qualifying competition—held in South Korea in April—but she struggled through to the final, where she secured a spot despite coming sixth. It was bittersweet and anticlimactic: a victory that prompted reflection more than celebration.

Even so, it was the culmination of a short but frantic four-month period between her decision to pursue the Olympics for a second time and her qualification. It was a demonstration both of her steely will and the incredible amount of work that goes into any Olympic bid.

Before her Olympic career, Aisyah had been a competitive netballer, a personal trainer, and a physical education teacher.

Getting back in the water

Just months earlier, Aisyah was deeply ambivalent about attempting to qualify. She had retired after the Rio Olympics, and didn’t return to rowing for another two years, and even then, she was only rowing as part of her job—for a fitness equipment company specializing in interactive rowing machines—rather than in competition.

“I haven't committed to like high-level training for quite a long time, so there were a lot of doubts in my head,” she said.

Ultimately, a group of fellow Olympians she met at anOlympics Broadcast Training Programme in Paris convinced Aisyah that it was still worth pursuing even though her life had moved on since the Rio Olympics.

Aisyah briefly moved to Sydney to train for the Olympics qualifiers.

Aisyah would also find herself rowing against far younger competitors, as she will at the Olympics. But she hopes to turn her experience to her advantage.

“I think experience plays a role in the sport and because it is also an endurance sport.

If you look at marathon runners, they usually peak later in their 30s as well. So I think it's similar to rowing. It is a sport that you can do for a long time because it has hardly any impact on your joints,” she said.

You can row your own way

When she was in Korea to qualify, Aisyah says the support she received from Singaporeans during this time was a tremendous boost to her spirits.

Aisyah says the discipline that comes with age and experience can be an advantage for competitive athletes.

“It’s nice to know that even though I've been away, they're still very much welcoming me back,” she said.

Since then, Aisyah has returned to Boston and resumed full time work, while keeping up the training. Her mother-in-law set up a crowdfunding effort to cover her coaching costs, and she is receiving support from the Singapore Rowing Association to cover additional training between now and the Olympics.

And before the torch is lit for Paris in late July, Aisyah will travel to Sydney again for more training—which could be slightly more gruelling in the mid-winter cold—and then to Europe for training camp before the Olympics.

“I think it's definitely going to be more challenging because I do not have those 10 years of just continuous rowing effort. I felt that at qualification I was lacking something even though I have the fitness and the strength.

During her retirement, Aisyah took up marathon running as a hobby.

“But I think at this age I'm more of like, OK, I want to go hard. I want to go fast.I want to win as much as possible, but let's be realistic and see how this whole experience can help me become a better person and help me become a better athlete,” she said.

Even though Aisyah was unsure if she wanted to compete at first—and despite the huge effort it took to get to Paris—she won’t rule out attempting to qualify for a third time.

“I'm not sure. I don't want to say no, but also I’m afraid to say yes. Oh, you never know,” she said.