Steve Khiew Hoe Yean is only 10 years old yet he has illustrated such kinship to being a convincing champion. Born September 2002 under the zodiac sign of Virgo, he shows such conviction in yearning to do well and pursues his goals with such single-mindedness. Steve was introduced to the pool at age 7 when he watched elder brother Jackson learn to swim and soon joined in.
A student of SJKC Jalan Davidson, he is above-average academically but sits on the pinnacle in age group swimming meets. At the 2012 MSSMKL (Kuala Lumpur School Sports), he took home 5 gold medals and etched 2 records to his name. He then proceeded to grab another 5 gold with 2 records at the 2012 Kuala Lumpur Age Group Championships. There was more to come. A couple of months later at the 2012 National Age Group Championships, he depicted such steadfastness and won 6 medals in total - divided equally with 3 gold and 3 silver.
What’s noteworthy is that all these wins were accomplished at a “disadvantage” year – meaning he was competing with swimmers a year older.Steve credits his performance to proper stroke techniques which he learned from his early coach – former national swimmer Wong Tuck Kar. Presently, he is enrolled into DSA Swim Academy at Bukit Jalil and has been training under Coach Daniel Lim for 2 years. His mother, dance instructor Mayee, is his pillar of strength and motivation. She inculcates good values, discipline and outlook and is conscientious about issues like proper and balanced diet, devotion to training, consciousness and awareness as well as a healthy attitude. She pointed out that a lot of sacrifice has to be made en route to achieving encouraging results.
“Do you engage in other sports” we asked? In a huff, Steve exclaimed that he is also into Double Dutch Skipping – a sport that is gaining huge and rapid popularity amongst kids. Unsurprisingly, he is good at it too. Somehow, this helps to affirm our notions that kids who are good in a particular sport is likely to be adaptably good in other sports too. It might well be that he becomes a good dancer in time to come as well. After all apart from flare, it also involves physicality and techniques.
Blue and orange are his favorite colors. He is naturally attracted to such shades. We sometimes wonder whether there’s any truth to zodiacal influence in our affinities towards colors. Nevertheless, it’s exciting to observe tendencies and inclinations. Blue represents water while orange reflects dare and audacity. Steve has it all!
