August 17, 2017, 05:55 PM 
Swimming has always been Singapore's strongest sport at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, which kicks off this Saturday (Aug. 19) in Kuala Lumpur.
We check out the Swim Queens who captured Singaporeans' hearts at the SEA Games in the past.
Patricia Chan
Via National Archives.
Chan swam at five SEA Games (then known as the Southeast Asian Peninsular or SEAP Games) from 1965 to 1973, starting at the age of 11. Throughout all five games, she won 39 medals, all of which were gold.
Her medals earned her the moniker Golden Girl.
At the fourth SEAP Games in Bangkok, Chan swept a staggering 10 gold medals and broke 10 records.
Via National Archives.
Chan's father, Chan Ah Kow, was a swimming coach who put Chan through a vigorous training regime and diet. Chan's typical day started with training before dawn, leaving for school at 6.45pm, and resuming training at 5pm until dinner time.
Patricia Chan leading the victory parade in 1967 after the SEA Games. Via National Archives.
Chan retired from swimming at the age of 19 and went on to become an editor and a singer.
Junie Sng
Junie Sng. Via Pinterest.
Similar to Chan, Sng debuted at the SEAP Games at the age of 11. She also took part in five editions of the Games, and brought home 35 medals.
Via National Archives.
Sng's achievements were not only limited to the SEAP Games. She was also the first Singaporean woman to win a gold medal at the 1978 Asian Games in Bangkok.
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Via National Archives.
After winning 10 gold medals at the 1983 SEA Games, Sng retired from swimming.
Sports correspondent Suresh Nair wrote in the Straits Times in 2015 that the ever determined Sng was a "supreme symbol of swimming Singaporeans: young, disciplined and determined to succeed".
Joscelin Yeo
Arguably the face of competitive swimming for most Singaporeans today, Yeo swept the most gold medals (40) at the SEA Games among the three ladies in this article.
Yeo is the one in the middle. Via National Archives.
Apart from her gold medals, she has also brought home 15 silvers and 7 bronzes from the Games.
Yeo made her debut at the SEA Games at the age of 12 in 1991. She went on to swim (and win) in another 7 more editions of the Games, as well as other sporting events, to become, in the words of the Singapore National Olympic Council, Singapore's most decorated athlete.
Doha, QATAR: Singapore's Joscelin Yeo (C-in black) jumps off the starting block with Macau's Choi Sin Hong (bottom), Japan's Maiko Fujino (2nd from top-blue) and South Korea's Jung Ji-Yeon (far top) in heat 1 of the women's 200m individual medley swimming event at the Hamad Aquatic Centre during the 15th Asian Games in Doha, 07 December 2006. Yeo won the heat with a time of 2:17.60 and qualified for the finals with the second fastest time. FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT/AFP/Getty Images.
HANOI, VIET NAM: Singaporean Yeo Weiling Joscelin competes in the 100m womens butterfly at the 22nd Southeast Asian Games being held 08 December 2003 in Hanoi's Aquatic Sports Palace. HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images.
After retiring from swimming, Yeo went on to become a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP), release an autobiography, and open a swim school.
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Top image via National Archives, Pinterest, and SNOC.
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