Malaysia’s Phee Jinq En says she intends on remaining in the United States after having graduated as a student-athlete at Purdue University. The breaststroking ace has decided to continue training for the Tokyo Olympics in West Lafayette rather than return home.
22-year-old Phee remains one of only two Boilermakers ever to dip under the one-minute barrier in the women’s 100 breaststroke. Internationally, Phee qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games prior to joining Purdue’s squad and took home double breaststroke gold at the 2019 SEA Games representing her nation of Malaysia.
The New Straits Times reports Phee as saying, “I am planning to stay on here and continue training. However, I will have to fund my training as I have already graduated and am no longer under their scholarship.
“I hope I can get some sponsorship somehow to continue training in the US until next year.
“I’ve yet to have that sorted out as I’m not quite sure where to start looking, although I’ve also asked the Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) for help.”
Like many swimmers around the world, Phee has been out of the pool for some time due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s been quite challenging, transitioning from training in the water to dry land. My body was not quite used to it initially.
“But it’s been fun coming up with new exercises each day to stay in shape. But I hope to get back into the pool soon.”
Of her plans, Phee states, “My plan was initially to continue training at Purdue until the Japan Open in June and then the Olympics, but it’s not going happen now.
“I also doubt there are any training facilities that are open, so it’s going to be hard to plan too far ahead into the future.
“I will keep on working hard and hope it would be enough to qualify for Tokyo.”
She is in good hands — great resources and coaches at Purdue. Best of luck to a great kid, stick with it!