Chee Swee Lee

Chee Swee Lee

Personal information
Nationality	Singaporean
Born	(1955-01-10) 10 January 1955 Singapore
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Event	Middle-distance running
Medal record Women's athletics Representing Singapore Asian Games 1974 Tehran 400 m Asian Championships 1973 Marikina 800 m 1973 Marikina 4×400 m 1975 Seoul 400 m 1975 Seoul 4×400 m Southeast Asian Games 1975 Bangkok 400 m 1975 Bangkok 800 m 1969 Rangoon 400 m 1971 Kuala Lumpur 4x400 m 1973 Singapore 400 m 1973 Singapore 800 m 1973 Singapore 4x400 m 1975 Bangkok 4x400 m 1971 Kuala Lumpur 400 m

In this Chinese name, the family name is Chee.

Chee Swee Lee (born 10 January 1955) is a Singaporean retired middle-distance runner who competed in the women's 800 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics. She was the first Singaporean woman to clinch a gold in athletics at the Asian Games—achieved at the women's 400 metres in 1974—and remained the only one until Shanti Pereira's victory at the women's 200 metres in 2023.

Early life

Chee was born on 10 January 1955 in Singapore. The third of eight children, she attended Telok Kerau West Primary School and became its best-performing athletics student in 1966. At 14 years old, while still in secondary school, Chee represented Singapore in the 400m event at the 1969 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games (SEAP Games) in Rangoon, winning the silver medal. At the 1971 SEAP Games in Kuala Lumpur, Chee won the silver in the 4x400m relay and the bronze medal in the 400m event.

Athletics career

At the 1973 SEAP Games in Singapore, Chee won two individual silvers in the 400 m and 800 m, as well as the team silver in the 4x400m relay.

At the 1974 Asian Games, Chee competed in the women's 400 m event and won the gold medal with 55.08 seconds, setting a Games record and Singapore national record for the 400 m, which remained unbroken until August 2017. Chee became the first Singaporean woman to win a gold at the Asian Games. She also won a silver in the women's 4x400 m and bronze in the 4x100 m relays. The same year, Chee was named Sportswoman of the Year in Singapore. At the 1975 SEAP Games, Chee won the 400 m and 800 m events and the silver medal at 4x400 m relay.

In 1976, Chee accepted a track scholarship at the University of Redlands in California. She qualified for the 800 m at the year's Olympics with a time of 2:07.4 minutes, but was unable to complete her heat in Montreal due to an injury to the Achilles tendon of her right leg, sustained during the National Amateur Athletic Union meet. Determined to continue running, Chee underwent surgery and reappeared in the circuit at the 1981 Southeast Asian Games in Manila, but failed to reach the podium in any events.

Chee subsequently enrolled at Mt. San Antonio College, coming in second at its conference championship with a time of 2:11.0 minutes. She then went to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona under an athletic scholarship and graduated with a degree in business administration. In 1990, Chee retired from professional athletics.

Post-athletics life

After retiring from athletics, Chee moved to Diamond Bar, California with her husband Bob Cedillo, before beginning a career as a property agent based in Las Vegas, Nevada. In May 2011, she was presented with a medallion commemorating her participation at the 1976 Olympic Games. The association Olympians Singapore has also officially recognised Chee as the 97th Olympian in the country's history.

Until Shanti Pereira won the women's 200 m in October 2023, Chee was the only Singaporean woman to have finished first at an Asian Games athletics event. Her 1974 gold medal is housed at the Singapore Sports Museum.

External links

• Chee Swee Lee at Olympics.com
• Chee Swee Lee at Olympedia