#60: SG's Fastest Woman on What Success Never Taught Her

0:00Rachel Lim: Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of the Who We Are podcast. If you watch a 100-meter race, it's usually over in about 11 seconds. But what most people don't see is the years and sometimes decades of discipline, sacrifice, doubt and resilience that go into those 11 seconds. Today's guest knows that journey intimately. Shanti Pereira is Singapore's fastest woman, a national record holder and Asian Games champion who has carried the Singapore flag onto some of the world's biggest stages. But her journey hasn't been a straight linear line. There were moments where things didn't go her way, seasons where she had to rediscover her confidence, rebuild her belief and find the courage to keep going.

0:44And in so many ways, that's what makes her story so powerful.

0:47Rachel Lim: So today, we're going to explore that story, the mindset, the struggles, the quiet moments that shaped her. Shanti, welcome to the show! Thank you! Thanks for having me. I am so excited. We've been looking forward to this conversation. Yes, I can't wait. You know, I'm really excited to really have a deeper conversation with you because, you know, when we met for coffee, I was so intrigued by... Yeah, you were. It was, you know, but what it takes to really become a champion and an elite performer, right? So a lot of us, when we hear Shanti Pereira, we think of, you know, Singapore's national pride.

1:24But if I were to meet you when you were 10 years old, who would I have met? Wow. Honestly, I would have just met this, like, girl that loves being active. I mean, I think at 10 years old, I really enjoyed just being active. I love like PE lessons. I love like just moving around. And I think part of why that was, was because at that time, my older sister, she was part of the national team doing athletics as well. How much older is she? She's six years older than me. Okay. So when I was 10, she was already 16 and she went to the sports school and everything. So at that time and before that, I was traveling with my family to watch her compete.

2:05I was watching her compete in Singapore. and that probably built the love for just being active and specifically liking running and sprinting and all those kind of things so um yeah I was very active and uh according to my family I was very

2:22Rachel Lim: cute when I was young so that's probably so at 10 you were already you were already very active at 10 I was already part of the track and field team actually I joined um when I was nine years old so in primary three and I joined because I participated in my school sports day and because I won the races that I competed in so the coach kind of said join track and field training yeah which I did yeah and I just kind of went with it and yeah so when I was 10 I was still um I was still in the team I was there all the way to be six wow was there a specific moment where you realized that wow damn I'm really fast not just you know faster than my peers and my age group but you know you that realization yeah maybe um when i was nine so when i went to um i participated in the like school national games and i was competing with girls who were 10 years old because by right the age group starts when you're primary four but if you're primary three they still allow you to compete so i competed um and i won the 100 meters and so i was best in singapore primary school so i think that's when i kind of realized like oh okay i think i'm actually pretty good at this.

3:33Rachel Lim: Yeah, and that's when you also decided that you know you're going to continue training. I think maybe in primary school it was sort of just a fun CCA to be a part of so that's why I did it all the way until I was primary six. Actually, fun fact, in primary four, I learned a very important life lesson actually at 10 years old and it was thanks to my parents because I lost the resource and I wanted to quit. I said like no, I don't want to do this because I hated the feeling of losing and I never really experienced that before and so I didn't really know how to handle it and my parents were you know really supportive and really like kind towards how I was feeling but my dad said you know you have to lose in order to be able to win next time and that really struck a chord for me and I was like yeah you know I shouldn't just give up just like that and so I continued.

4:22Rachel Lim: So when did sprinting or racing become something that you really loved to something that you really need in your life? I don't know, maybe that came a bit later because I think in school, it's just sort of something that you want to be a part of, like apart from academics. But I think when I thought, okay, I could take this a little bit more seriously was when I decided to go to the sports school. So that was like in secondary one. So it's a normal academic pathway where you do like sec one to sec four. But making that decision meant that I was taking my sport a little bit more seriously because it's not just a CCA, it's why you are in the school.

5:03And so training happens every day. And you're staying in boarding school in order to have that kind of good training and school environment. And you were, of course, also surrounded by... I was surrounded by so many, yeah, like in track and field, in so many other different sports also that was just there to really get the best out of what they're doing.

5:26Rachel Lim: You know, going back to that younger version of Shanti, still in school training, what do you think you would have said to her today, you know, knowing everything that you know now? Wow, I think I can tell her so many things.

5:42Maybe don't take things so seriously. I think remember that this is still a fun thing that you really love to do. and it's a time where you're finding what you're truly passionate about and embrace the opportunity of you just being in that school and being able to do what you love to do. It's beautiful. And don't listen to people. I mean, I think one lesson I learned during that time was that, if you want to excel, you really have to be able to focus on yourself and focus on your growth rather than compare yourself to others. And I think as a teenager, it's very difficult to take that away because it's part of growing up.

6:34But I know I say this now that that's just something I would like to tell my younger self. I would also like to tell her that it's a part of growth and you'll realize much later that you have learned a lot from that experience.

6:48Rachel Lim: Wow, it's like really like trying your best to shut out all the noise and focus on your path. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I want to also, you know, switch gears a bit to talk more about like the journey, the struggles and perhaps some setbacks that you have had. You know, in 2017, you had the scholarship by SMU. Yes, that's right. Yeah. And in 2018, you lost it. Could you tell us a little bit about that part of the journey? Yeah, that was difficult because I got awarded the SMU Yipin Tzu scholarship, which I was really happy about because that's really just exactly what I wanted. I was just really excited, I think.

7:29And at that time, I was also on the Sports Excellence Scholarship as well. So that's the one by Sports Singapore, you know, so I had two. so I'm just really happy about it of course like you know it's definitely a sense of prestige that you've been awarded and it's a it's it's a crucial part of just all the hard work that you've been putting in you know so but what I wasn't really prepared for was the expectations that came from both of these scholarships and I think with you know training and going to school at the same time and with how much I factor my sport into my life it was a lot to juggle with and so unfortunately I lost a scholarship after yeah about a year and a half so at the end of 2018 that's when I lost it and at the same time I lost the other scholarship as well because I wasn't producing the results on the track that I was supposed to be doing so I didn't manage to do that and that's why I lost both my scholarships and yeah it's probably one of the hardest things I had to deal with because it happened within a week.

8:40Back to back, almost back to back. It was pretty much back to back and so I don't know I just I lost a lot of confidence you know from just losing that it just felt like a failure you know like I failed in two of the things that I was working really hard working really hard at. Yeah it was tough but I think I had a lot of support from just my family and my friends and my coach at the time. You know, I think to be able to come back from that, I think it required a lot of support. And I was really thankful that I had that.

9:14Rachel Lim: What was it like? Because I can imagine, especially at 22, when, you know, it's also such formative years of your life and having lost two major scholarships back to back like that, it almost also, I can imagine, like perhaps it did feel like a rejection of some sort and how did you pick yourself out with some of the things that you yeah it definitely felt like a rejection like like like I feel like I said um and how I came back from that I don't know I think it's kind of built in me and I think why is because of how I was brought up like by my my parents my my and my older siblings as well I just didn't see giving up as an option.

9:58Rachel Lim: Wow. I don't know why. I have no idea why, but I didn't see that as an option. So I just kept going. I mean, I had the option of changing my degree entirely, but I didn't want to do it because I made a commitment, you know, like at the start of school, I chose this degree and I always want to see things through. And so I didn't change and I just kept going and kept working hard. and I found a way to obviously pay the tuition that I had to, you know, pay because I lost a scholarship, which was fine. And then as for the sports one, same thing, you know. I never really saw giving up as something that I should do.

10:38So I just picked myself up and kept going.

10:40Rachel Lim: Well, thank God for us. I know. I can imagine, you know, Shanti, that any one of us might have just taken it as a sign that, okay, this is not for me. Yeah, maybe. But so at any point, perhaps, were there any times in perhaps in your hardest seasons you felt like, or you told yourself, okay, maybe this is just not for me? Yeah, so many times. I think especially when I meet injuries, like I injure something during training or during a competition. I think coming back from that, yeah, definitely I've went down that road of thinking like, why am I still doing this? Why I could just totally stop? Why do you put yourself through this?

11:22Yeah, why do I keep putting myself through this? Like, why? Just why? You know, but I don't know. I always come back to it. I think after a while, I realized that, you know, I've been given this gift and not a lot of people have the opportunity of saying that I can run this fast, you know, and everything I've been given, everything that has been taken away from me since I started. is just a part of my journey and it has helped me grow so much and you know I've reached a certain point where I'm just very thankful for everything that has happened or hasn't happened to me and there must be a reason why I'm built this way that I choose not to give up when things get hard then maybe it's because I was meant to do this and this is a part of who I am

12:19Rachel Lim: and this is part and parcel of the journey you have to go through it's really life it's just a very clear description of what life is about sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don't and then it's just about learning picking yourself up and keep going you know you spoke earlier about injuries and I think one recent and major one was in Paris. Could you tell us a little bit about that and what was going through your mind and especially weeks before that when there was so much uncertainty? Yeah, that was a tough one because I got injured at the start of 2024 and that was Olympic year. And what stung the most was that I had such a good year before that and I achieved a dream of mine which was to get a spot in an Olympic Games on merit.

13:14And with the system how it is now, qualification is very, very, very difficult. And there are certain ways you can qualify. One is you qualify by the time that they set as a qualifying time. And because it is a very tough time to hit, they also allow for top 48 in world rankings. Yeah, so there were always two ways to qualify. but what everybody wants is to qualify by time. Although it's much harder. Although it's much harder, but it guarantees your spot at the competition. Whereas for world rankings, you would have to keep competing and keep getting those points right up until like two to three weeks before the actual Olympic Games.

13:56And it's just a waiting game, you know. So that's what I wanted. I wanted to qualify by time. And in 2020, I did that, which was just crazy, you know. It was absolutely crazy. I mean, that I managed to do it. So coming into 2024, the Olympic year, I just wanted to ride on that momentum, just keep going and, you know, try to be my best self when Paris came. And then suddenly I got the stress injury. And I just felt it was almost a fracture. So there was no like line, but it was bad enough that I had to just be off impact for like a good six to eight weeks, which is very, it takes you back a lot, especially when you're training for in the Olympic year.

14:46And at a time where I had the diagnosis and everything, I was cutting it very, very close. And my coach has, we've talked about it so many times that like, it could have been a case where I wasn't fit enough to run at the Olympics. but we made it work like we made it work he rearranged the training in however way he could think of for me to still be fit enough um and not um injure my leg even more and um just be able to show up at the games yeah but it was really tough I just felt like my world was crashing down because I reached this place where no Singaporean has ever reached before and I was really living my dream and then suddenly like this happened yeah and

15:30Rachel Lim: oh my god I was I was really just heartbroken yeah my my I was just so sad you know I can imagine you've been training all the opportunities I got I suddenly had to say no like you know there's certain competitions that are quite that are quite prestigious to get into I'm not talking about like Olympic Games and World Championships there are like other competitions or like the circuit that are very hard to get into but I managed to get into them but because of my injury I had to pull out because I couldn't compete and I was so sad. Yeah, and I really had to refocus and think about really recovering and making sure I don't hurt my leg again so that I can be on the start line in Paris.

16:18And so, yeah, that was what the season looked like. instead of competing quite a lot throughout the season, I had to train most of it to rehab my leg and then try to get into certain competitions in the lead up just to have some competition experience before Paris, which was really time of soul because my timings weren't the best. And so going into the games, I didn't have the best kind of times, which kind of made it a lot less confidence than I would have wanted. Going into something so big you know yeah looking back it was really a blessing that I managed to qualify for Paris in the first place to even qualify because if I didn't get that qualification I wouldn't have been there because I wouldn't have been fast enough to be there but and so these are the things like after a while you look back it's something that I'm very grateful for like even with an experience like that which was really heartbreaking but it's still a part of my journey, I guess.

17:19And it has made me stronger even though I'm at the later part of my career already. But I'm constantly learning things. I'm constantly having to choose growth over all these things that happened in my life, you know.

17:33Rachel Lim: So yeah, but it was tough. It was probably one of the toughest things I had to go through. No, when you say it, you still can smile while saying it, which I really respect. But I can imagine it must have been it's like your world crashed Yeah, it all came crashing down. Almost felt like that. And it was a total mindset shift where you almost have to go from offensive mode to defensive mode, where you want to prevent injury, you know. And it's such a different mind space and you had such a ticking time bomb of like, you know, only a certain period of time. Yeah, yeah. It was really, my coach liked the same miracle that I was able to compete in the first place.

18:09Rachel Lim: What do you think that season taught you about yourself or life? I think that it's important I think with all the success that you have in your life it's important to stay grounded and not be complacent to keep working and remember why you're doing what you're doing in the first place and outside of that I think it taught me a lot about how to take care of my body better just how to take care of my body how to find ways to make sure I'm recovering properly because training really takes a toll on your body. And, you know, the older you get, the more you have to take care of the tiniest little things, you know.

18:51So, yeah, it made me realise that I had to pay a lot more attention to the recovery methods I was choosing and maybe some supplements that I might have needed.

19:01Rachel Lim: Because our body is also constantly evolving. Yeah, having to take blood work to see what supplements I might have needed and things like that. So, we did learn a lot from that season, for sure. you talk about remembering why we do what we do why do you do what you do I think yeah I've thought about this quite a lot and I really think it's because it's a part of who I am and I can't imagine my life without it such that even when I'm eventually done with the sport I will always have a piece in there somehow yeah it's shaped who I am it has brought me so many life experiences and memories you know I mean my my future husband I met through the sport yeah I mean that's that's amazing the whole life evolves around the sport I mean since since childhood since I was a child yeah yeah so it feels like it's something that I've always meant to do yeah and you know congratulations also on all the recent achievements that you have had post-Paris.

20:09Rachel Lim: I know that was a tough year. And you know, there are also really seasons where perhaps sometimes the results don't show for the effort that we have put in. But there are also seasons where it does show for the effort that we have put in. And congratulations on that. Thank you. But could you take us with you to the starting line when you're there? What goes through your mind? And yeah, what are you thinking to yourself? Because we see, we see you all cool already, you know, to crush it. What's going through your mind? So actually, this answer surprises a lot of people. I don't think about anything.

20:41Just blank. Zero. Yeah. That's what I want. I don't want to be... I like to compare it to like taking an exam. Like, you know, before an exam, if you're like reading your notes before you enter the hall, it's kind of the same, you know, where all of that doesn't matter at the end of the day. Like you have trained hard for this day. Yeah. You know what you have to do. And so now is the time to just let it go and trust yourself. Trust the training that you've put in. Well, for me, I mean, in that instance, I'll say trust my coach. Trust everything that I've done to make sure I'm here today. And that's it.

21:22And just go and run your best. I know it sounds like it's a very easy thing to channel, but it has taken me very, very long to try and incorporate that into my pre-race ritual where I try not to think so much because it's very easy to overthink. It's such a stressful environment, especially when you're at the warm-up room and the warm-up area and the call room where all of our competitors are. We're all like sitting in a circle and everyone is just preparing their spiked shoes. And if the call room allows it, some of them are like listening to music, Some of them are like dancing. Yeah, shaking it off.

22:00Some of them make sounds like grunts and things like that. So it's a very intense place to be in if you're there for the first time and you're seeing it for the first time. So that's why I think for me it's really important to be able to tune all of that out and focus on myself. But I don't focus on the technical parts of what I have to do during the race because that, again, is like cramming for and like reading the notes before your exam 20 minutes before you have to go in. So same thing. It's all in me already. Like I've trained so hard for this and now it's just time to let it go and trust what you've done.

22:40Do you kind of know by the time you're on the start line that you will already win it all?

22:45Rachel Lim: Do you know it's going to be a good or not so good race? I think sometimes you can kind of tell whether it's going to be bad or good or at least that's for me because like um i don't know just you're not feeling your best and things just they're not vibing you know so you maybe can kind of tell um and same when um you feel really good and like like yeah like i'm ready to do this i'm ready to run a pb or whatever it is yeah i think definitely we can feel it but what i've realized is that i need to not pay attention to that got it so you just let it pass like a thought that passed it's something i'm trying because um it's still something i'm working on because it's so easy to really dive into that feeling you know like if you're feeling really really good and you go into the race and you're like yeah like i'm gonna win this you know but i always have to remember that anything can happen in a race and me diving into that mindset is kind of thinking of the outcome which is not what I want because that's not something you can control right like what I can control is my actual race right everything leading up to the race that's what I can control but I can't control what happens after so yeah like I think definitely you would have that kind of sense but I think what's important is you try to focus on what you can control rather than what could happen based on what you're feeling.

24:21Got it.

24:22Rachel Lim: You know, after all these years, does fear still show up? Yes, definitely. Yeah, I think there's always a fear of some sort, you know, like fear of, I don't know, maybe you don't feel good enough on that day or something or just fear of embarrassment, maybe like you just don't want to lose. People just don't like losing in general. right so especially at that level yeah so there's always that fear and um that's just something that we always have to work on because at the end of the day look like i mean there can only be one winner right and you just have to accept it sometimes this is your sport and you sign up you are gonna lose sometimes whether you like it or not and it's just something that you have to accept it's a part of the sport is a part of life you know yeah it's amazing for me to hear because I think there's so much pressure, especially now.

25:17Rachel Lim: I mean, you're Singapore's spring queen and there's so much expectations that goes along with it. And it's almost like at every race now, people expect you to bring home the goal. How do you manage that to ensure that it doesn't overwhelm you and doesn't get to you? Yeah, it's something I had to learn quite recently, actually, because I've never experienced that before. you know only recently like um especially after you know the very good year i had in 2023 i think that's when people definitely expected um a win from me every time i i competed and i just kind of took it as it is you know like i just thought about it like yeah you know all of these top tennis players top basketball players they are constantly in the limelight and sometimes they don't win you know yeah and I realized again going back to the same point as just now that that's just sport you know when you're at the top there are going to be expectations on you from people that maybe don't even matter and so I kind of just embraced it and thought about it as something that I just could never ever control you know I can never ever control people's expectations.

26:33And to be honest, even if I win, right, people will still say something. You know what I mean?

26:39Rachel Lim: So I just like, at the end of the day, I'm not doing it to fulfill your expectations. I'm doing it because this is something I love to do. And I mean, I love winning, obviously. So I'm going to work hard and make sure I try to do that, you know, and just tune out everyone else on the outside that really just doesn't matter. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Does it mean you also try not to, you know, go on social media so much just before or after. Actually, yeah, it's quite something I have, it's a very mindful thing I have to do, like to just not go to my phone, especially during like a major games period. So like the week before and things like that.

27:20So what I'm really happy about is my TikTok account. My algorithm is nothing about sports. Oh, great. so like my coach obviously he always tries to tell me like like please don't look at your phone like I don't want you to look at comments like even if I did a good result he doesn't want me to look at the comments and things like that

27:37Rachel Lim: then I'm like my TikTok very good don't worry yeah don't worry it's a lot of clothes and makeup and don't worry about it it's all good yeah so that's your safe space my safe space your TikTok is your safe space exactly where you can still indulge a little bit but it's nothing that is yeah it's gonna make me like yeah Not going to throw you off. But whenever a bad race happens, especially previously, how do you reset? Well, I always have to have that dialogue with coach for sure. And be open to hearing what I did wrong. Which is not very easy all the time. Not for anyone as well. Because ego just takes over, right?

28:17And you want to be like the best at everything. So I have to be open to just hearing what he thinks I could have done better. during the race because he's the one watching right he's doing it and he can see he has a sense of these things like you know if i i'm lacking like power at a certain part of my race or things like that um and so i have to have that open communication with him and that's on me like i have to be open to hearing all this feedback um yeah so i think that's a really crucial part too and then when i am open to it i listen to what he says um you know it's a good thing also that he doesn't fault me for it because he knows that some days are just not your day.

28:56But we always take it back and we figure out how we can really work on something that maybe I'm lacking and try and make it better for the next time.

29:05Rachel Lim: And going back to your wins now, you also ended Singapore's 49-year drought with your Asian Games 200m goal. And I want to ask, you know, after all that celebration, all that crowd cheering for you, after all the cameras, when you return back to yourself at the end of the day what what did that victory really feel like oh my gosh it just felt like like everything you know i don't know it just felt like i was like yeah i'm i made maybe i made the right choices in my life i i chose to stick this out and continue on this journey you know and it gave me such an incredible incredible success and a story that I can tell to future generations to come, you know.

29:53I mean, it was a very historic moment and I'm just very grateful that I was a part of that story, you know. Yeah, and I mean, after everything settled down, I was really just like, did that even happen?

30:07Rachel Lim: Wow, it's just unbelievable. Did that even happen? You know, even until today, it's like, whoa, that's really crazy that I was part of such a historic moment. Were your parents and family there to witness? My parents were there. My then boyfriend now, fiancé, was there too. And with family, I think like no words are really needed because they've just seen it all. All your sacrifices also. They've seen all of it. They know what this journey means and what that win really meant. And so like my victory is their victory also. So yeah, like seeing them was just like, it just hugs, you know, all around.

30:41Tears, obviously, flowing and everything.

30:43Rachel Lim: So yeah, it's a pretty, pretty great moment. Yeah. Do you remember, was there something that someone said to you that really stayed with you? Maybe, actually it's something my coach, he likes to channel this before every season where you want to be able to say at the end of the season that you gave everything you had in you without feeling any regrets, even if you lose. you know and that really stuck with me and that kind of followed me throughout my seasons after that yeah that's so beautiful yeah and you know shanti your identity is so tight to your performance and how do you ensure that your sense of self and your self-worth doesn't rise and fall according to the results yeah that's always something that i think a lot of athletes have to figure out because it's very easy to tie ourselves to to the results that we do if we're winning means we are successful and if we're losing means oh we failed but that's just not that's just not accurate at all you know and so I mean while you're doing this sport it's important to just go back to the things that you believe in and try to bring that with you to your sport so I mean for me um i've always been someone that i don't give up and i show up no matter what and so at the end of every season if it's good if it's bad um that's what i go back to like did i show up did i did i do whatever i could to make sure i was there and healthy and ready to compete if I didn't then that's something I have to take with me into my next season if I did that's an accomplishment that I can be proud of yeah and you had to learn that from a very young age and on a very public platform I guess so I mean I actually kind of learned that maybe a bit later so quite recently because just of all the success that I've had and I've had to kind of channel this also because like you said of all the expectations that people have and um obviously sometimes like i go into a race and yeah i'm the favorite and and i want to win you know but then i have to go back and think about like who am i you know like i i don't want to be tying myself to every bit of success and failure i have to think about who i am um and bring it with me when i run and when i compete so what parts of you do you bring with you when you run and compete beyond of course shanti the athlete i mean i think i laugh a lot i love that well according to everyone i'm close to i laugh a lot so i like to bring the energy with me i guess you know every time i compete i like to just not be so tense and just have fun with it um and i bring the little bit of creative side I have in me when I do my makeup and do my hair and stuff.

34:06Just a part of just showing who I am also, you know. If I can do my nails, I'll do my nails. If I can match the suit I'm wearing, I'll do it. You know, anything to just bring a part of myself to race.

34:20Rachel Lim: And a bit of your personality. Yeah, exactly. You know, I was also going to ask, you know, like, what do you think, like, what do you think most people misunderstand about being an elite athlete?

34:34oh my gosh i don't know there's so many yeah tell us debunk it for us please what do we misunderstand the most um like i think we are really our own worst critics you know and every time we compete we are so critical over ourselves that obviously we are not happy when we're not doing when we don't do a good time you know like and then maybe later we we just say like you know yeah unfortunately we didn't run a good time but still grateful for these things and then um it's taken as if we're okay with the result but we're really not we are really not like the things maybe you are saying we have already taught them ourselves and we are critiquing ourselves over it you know so yeah i think that's one thing like we are and also just we are human sure we we we do things people don't normally do in terms of like you know the the types of training that we do and things we do in the gym and our lifestyle that we have kind of created for ourselves it's very different but we are human and we we have emotions and we we think we overthink sometimes and all these things yeah but I think what people also really don't don't or like they understand but because they don't live our lives they will never truly understand is that it takes so much discipline so much discipline and consistency and commitment that it becomes our whole life you know how are you able to keep building that discipline to?

36:22I think it's like a no choice really at this point. You say you're human, right? So I'm sure

36:28Rachel Lim: there are days where you just absolutely don't want to show up or just don't feel like it. What do you tell yourself? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, we've had no choice really but to build so much discipline in everything that we do such that when we really don't feel like training or just doing anything really we have to tap into that um feeling of just finishing the workout and showing up and putting in that work and staying consistent because sometimes the motivation just isn't there you know it's just not there like I don't want to do this today I mean I just really I faced this with my teammate just last week it's just like oh my god I'm so tired I don't feel like doing this right now.

37:12But then we literally just, we were saying that while we were wearing our spikes. But your body is already...

37:15Rachel Lim: Yeah, we were wearing our spikes and we were just like, okay, stand up. And then we just go to the start line. So it's really just about trying to stay consistent and remembering that, you know, sometimes it's not going to be the best day and you're not going to feel your best. But as long as you show up, I think that's the most important. Shanti, from your intimate point of view of being a champion and a world champion, what do you think makes a champion? Dedication to your craft. It is discipline, commitment, sacrifice, a lot of sacrifice. You have to change your entire lifestyle to be able to perform.

38:01And it's also about protecting your peace throughout all of that. Like keep the people who matter close. And those that don't matter, just out of earshot, out of eyesight, you know. So, yeah, I think that's really what it takes. My coach always tells me that I have a lot of grit. So, for me, maybe that's what makes me be able to do what I do.

38:32Rachel Lim: Yeah, I show a lot of grit. You can take pain. I can take pain. I am resilient. and I learned that I think growing up also like like I said like I don't give up yeah I think for me that's what makes me do what I do do you remember any core memory of your parents inculcating that in you I think just it's yeah everything like maybe every unfortunate thing that happened with regards to sport or whatever it is I think my mum and my dad will always be like um yeah you can cry now but take this as a strength and come back from it. And yeah, I think it really just, it stayed with me until now. It's beautiful.

39:18Rachel Lim: And you know, with so many young girls looking up to you, especially, what do you hope that they see from your example and journey? That anything is possible. If you put your mind to it, you know, you can achieve your dreams. like you can do it you can do anything I really hope what I've been doing really inspires like all these goals and boys you know to take up sport you know or just pursue pursue something that I mean if that's what they're interested in pursue the path less traveled I think it's so looked down on in our environment that it becomes very scary and people don't want to do it but you can and as long as you have the right people with you, you can go down that path and hopefully be successful.

40:10Rachel Lim: So don't give up also on that dream. And for yourself, Shanti, you talked a little bit about sacrifices earlier. What do you think is the biggest sacrifice you've had to make for this passion of yours?

40:26Definitely, I sacrificed my 20s. Are you bitter about that?

40:30Rachel Lim: I'm not bitter about it. No, because you couldn't do things that your peers were doing. Exactly. I sacrificed my 20s for sure. It's like things you want to do when you're just in school and just growing up. You want to go on an exchange. You want to go out with your friends and party and stay up late and all these things. but I well I could have done it but I chose not to just because I have things that I have goals that I would like to achieve um so yeah I definitely sacrificed my my 20s for sure but you know what like honestly no regrets no regrets at all yeah yeah because throughout that time I've managed to um hold very very dear friends um close you know and I've made this circle for myself that has just been so great.

41:21Yeah.

41:22Rachel Lim: You know, Shanti, we were just talking earlier and you shared also that you're turning 30 this year. What a milestone here. And with every athlete, I think time is also finite for that particular season in their career. How are you thinking about it? And what does 40-year-old Shanti look like in terms of like, what do you think she'll be doing? And does that vision excite you or scare you? um actually now it does kind of excite me uh maybe in the past it didn't i was still a bit scared because it meant that i was gonna stop running eventually um well i think the fact that i am still in high performance sport at 30 years old is pretty cool i mean not a lot of people do this yeah not a lot of people do this um and so now you know as i'm still in i'm still performing at such a high level um i really have to listen to my body and um take recovery very very seriously um and also just be okay when i don't know like i'm doing a workout and suddenly i feel a really weird feeling in my head it's okay to stop and it's okay not to keep pushing because look at the benefits down the road like is it really going to help you or is it just like fine yeah it's almost like run away left to find another thing yeah like so these are things I pay attention to um but what 40 year old me would look like I don't know I hope to have little shanties or little little tong yang running around I would love that I mean I've always wanted a family so to start a family so hopefully by then um it will look a little bit like that but let's see um and I think I'll definitely still be in the spot somehow I think I always like to give back to my sport just to keep inspiring people to join sport or whatever it is you know and yeah I think definitely my story won't stop when I stop running I think it will keep I want it to keep going on after that and you've already made history and you will continue to thank you yeah and you know just more of a fun aside question what are some supplements you have I okay yeah so i live by magnesium i definitely take magnesium every night every night right yeah i take every night just because um it's a really good way to um help my muscles recover and it's something i need because um not we don't have magnesium producing naturally yeah um so i take magnesium I take what else do I take?

44:04I take vitamin D that's also really important because I'm not sure why all Singaporeans are just kind of deficient in vitamin D other things I take are like omega-3 I take vitamin C I think these are just quite standard things but I stick to it quite strictly do you take like creatine? yes I was leading to that yeah for performance more performance specific I take creatine I take I take protein obviously to get my protein intake but also for recovery purposes after a workout yeah that's a sense of what I take Francis Custard Man pack yeah I have my little box of problems

44:42Rachel Lim: but do you feel a difference when you know if you miss out I do I do because there are certain periods where I just go off it because I don't want to I don't want to be on it for the entire year I just need a break from it sometimes reset a bit yeah to reset and then I come back to it to my whole routine maybe a bit more into the season. And I can feel the difference for sure. Like I can take the training load a lot better because that's what we want. I mean, we want to be able to maximize our training day, you know, to be able to finish the workout, to do it well. And in order to do that, we need some help.

45:18Rachel Lim: You know, Shanti, if you have a billboard down the streets of like New York, Tokyo, Singapore, what would your billboard say and why? So, something about being yourself, but also kind of weaving it to like running, you know. So like, I don't know, run you, be you or something like that. I don't know. That line, that kind of, that vibe. Why is that so important to you? Because I think it's a lot about what you brought up just now, that like athletes are so, we're obsessed with tying ourselves to the results that we do. that we forget about just being ourselves, you know? So I think that's quite important.

46:05Rachel Lim: How will you describe yourself beyond the shanty that we know, that we see on screen and all over the newspaper? Well, my friends, every time I talk to my friends, they're just like, like, you know, they tell me like, yeah, you know, people see you as like this cool person, but actually you're just very lame. I'm just like, oh. They ground you, okay. Yeah. So I have them to thank for me being grounded because you're just like, you're just like, you're just very lame, you're just very, you're just very ditzy. Like, oh, okay. So I guess that's me. Well, Shang-Chi, thank you so much for coming on the show.

46:44Thank you so much for who you are.

46:46Rachel Lim: I think truly, we are so inspired by your journey, your story, and your pursuit of your destiny, leaning into your gift and your zone of genius. Thank you. We wish you all the very best for what's next. We are clearly rooting for you. Do you have any last words that you want to say or share? Watch me. Yes. And for those of us who want to follow you on the journey, where can we find you? Well, Singapore Athletics is always posting updates of where athletes are competing. So follow them for sure. And follow me. Yes. We'll link to his social media. Thank you so much. Thank you.

47:27Thank you.