Shared love for artistic swimming sees S’pore father-daughter pair officiate at Asian Games

NAGOYA – When Geraldine Chew’s name flashed on the screen at the Furuhashi Hironoshin Memorial Hamamatsu Swimming Centre on Sept 26, her father Steve could not help but feel emotional.

The last time he saw her name come up at a competition venue was over a decade ago, when she was a Team Singapore athlete in artistic swimming.

So getting to experience that again at the Asian Games, where Geraldine was introduced as one of the judges for the sport, filled him with pride.

It was a special moment for the father and daughter pair, who served as technical officials at a major Games together for the first time.

“I honestly felt emotional for a while the first time I saw her name up there and this time she’s together with me sitting on the deck, officiating the events so it was something different,” said Steve, 63.

From Sept 26 to 28 in Hamamatsu City, Steve was a technical delegate who was responsible for ensuring the competition was run smoothly and fairly, while Geraldine was a judge.

The Aichi-Nagoya Games were also Geraldine’s first appearance at the quadrennial event.

During her days as an athlete, she competed in two SEA Games and the world championships, but never had the opportunity to participate at the continental showpiece.

“It was quite cool that I finally got to experience what I didn’t experience before as an athlete and at the same time, being able to experience my first-ever multi-sport major Games (as a technical official) with my dad,” said the marketing professional, who retired from competitive sport in 2015.

Their foray into artistic swimming began when Geraldine was nine, and it was not long before her father’s role in the sport evolved from that of a driver ferrying her to and to and from the pool.

Inspired by his daughter’s dedication, he first became a local judge in 2007.

Steve said: “As a concerned parent, we want to progress together with our daughter and we can see that they spend a lot of time in the pool. Geraldine took part as a team and if you want to have the eight girls swimming together, they have to spend a lot of time training.

“When I saw them, I also wanted to progress and learn as much to understand what’s actually happening, and to help the community grow.”

To date, he has officiated at many major events, including the world championships, Asian Games and three Olympics.

Geraldine said: “He’s still going very strong so with over 20 years in the sport, I think it says a lot about his commitment and his passion. He may even be more passionate than me because I retired in 2015 and the fact that he’s gone further without me as an athlete speaks volumes.”

She also added that her dad is often up at 2am for virtual conferences with World Aquatics in his role as secretary of the global body’s artistic swimming technical committee.

She began her own journey in officiating in 2024, when she started taking judging courses with some of her teammates.

Seeing her father’s experiences and going for various competitions around the world also encouraged her to follow in his footsteps.

Steve’s dedication to his role has meant that the Chews have not taken a family holiday since 2011, as most of the property manager’s annual leave is spent going for overseas competitions.

While Geraldine finally had the chance to travel with her father for the Asian Games, they did not get to spend much time together as they were busy with their different roles.

Her mother Gina Keh, 63, has also volunteered as a technical official at local competitions, although Geraldine’s two older brothers are not involved in the sport.

Although the father and daughter pair’s shared passion has brought many cherished memories, it has not been without its challenges as they have had to navigate potential conflicts of interest.

When she was still competing, there were instances when she referred to him as “Uncle Steve” instead during overseas events where he was officiating.

But more than anything, it has brought the family closer.

She said: “He has a lot of passion for a sport that he didn’t even participate in.

“I got my whole family into it when I was nine and sometimes I look back and think if I hadn’t said yes to this sport, would we be as happy as we are now?

“We have something that we’re so passionate about together so I think things worked out really well and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

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Kimberly Kwek joined The Straits Times in 2019 as a sports journalist and has since covered a wide array of sports, including golf and sailing.