S'porean teen overcame eating disorder to become S'pore's 1st Brazilian jiu-jitsu Asian Games medallist

The Singapore athlete's story is rarely a rosy one.

Kayla Wong | November 10, 2018, 09:40 AM

When Constance Lien won a silver in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) at the 18th Asian Games in August this year, she became the first Singaporean to win any medal at the Asian Games for the sport.

Lien won silver after beating Mongolia's Battsogt Buyandelger and Turkmenistan's Krovyakova Violetta. (Image via Sport Singapore)

In the "open-belt" competition, she defeated opponents much larger and more experienced than her. Her competitor from Mongolia, for instance, is a brown belt — that's two ranks above her blue.

But you don't have to be a black belt to win championships; a current World Number 1, and also the Asian Games Gold medallist Sung Kira, is a purple belt — one level above blue.

If that doesn't sound impressive enough, get this, she only got into the combat sport three years ago. The Asian Games might have been the biggest achievement for her thus far, but she has already won various regional competitions.

All this while still in school — she's in her final semester at Temasek Polytechnic where she's currently pursuing a diploma in early childhood development and education .

And her ultimate goal? To turn pro, and compete in the world championships next year.

Whew.

She tells us all this like she's running through a shopping list — such is the steely, determined drive we see in her.

But as we talk, her self-assured countenance gives way to a vulnerable honesty.

Daughter of a national swimmer

Lien has been a competitive athlete for pretty much all of her life.

The elder of two daughters (her younger sister Charity represents Singapore in regional school swim meets) of former national breaststroke record holder Yuen Shuang Ching, Lien took her first plunge into the pool when she was three, and started competing when she was between five and six years old.

She was putting in hours of training every day, and was halfway through a scholarship at the Singapore Sports School before realising that competitive swimming was something her mother wanted — not so much what she wanted.

But swimming was her life, and swimming was all she knew:

"In swimming, I always felt very stuck. It was just always go, go, go, go.

I didn't realise it's not really what I wanted. My parents just put me into it and I just followed.

I didn't understand the concept of being passionate for a sport back then, because I just did what my parents told me to do. After all, they know what's best for me."

As the years wore on, Lien found herself working harder and harder, just to shave a single second off her race timing.

And she could not stop, because of family expectations.

Losing control

Lien said her eating disorder started right after a disappointing outing at the 2013 FINA World Cup (an annual global swimming tournament) in Doha, where she shared a room with Tao Li and was "starstruck".

Her team coach then decided that her underperformance could be attributed to some weight gain.

She was then put on a highly-restrictive diet that her coach prescribed, with a typical dinner consisting of Meiji crackers, broccoli and cheese. Her mum also prepared her breakfast and lunch. Naturally, snacks were not allowed.

In addition, Lien was asked to weigh herself in every single training session — and she trained every day.

"Something that didn't matter to me started to matter to me"

Lien eventually lost enough weight to get her coach off her back, but that was when her real problems started.

After months of not having any control over what she ate and suddenly regaining it, she found herself taking it to the extreme and being conscious of the shape of her body — her swimmer's shoulders for instance.

She said:

"If you think about it, mentally, you keep weighing yourself, it becomes like an addiction.

So when my mum stopped taking care of my diet, when everything was okay already, I started taking control of my diet as I became conscious of my weight.

Something that didn't matter to me (before) started to matter to me."

Her typical daily routine, then, was to wake up at 5am, take an orange for breakfast, followed by 10km on the treadmill.

She remembers having just one thought while running: to lose weight.

She would go straight to swim training after the morning run, and either not eat anything at all or have a slice of bread for lunch.

She would then train again until dinnertime, when she would finally allow herself a little more food.

"The thing about having an eating disorder is that when you try to recover from it, the binge is really bad — because you keep thinking you're going to recover, so you just overeat.

In a way, you still regret it as when you overeat, obviously your body is not going to be slim when you look at yourself in the mirror. And then you ask yourself 'why did I do that?' It's a very detrimental process."

When mum discovered what was going on

The turning point for Lien came when she was eating lunch with her mother one day.

She said even though her mum is certainly not one to cry in public, halfway through their meal, she stopped eating, looked at her, and started to cry, saying her neck looked "really skinny".

Lien admits she looked unhealthy — her face was dull, she had obvious eye bags and her cheeks were sunken in. She had lost almost 10kg by that point, and she was already at healthy weight originally.

She also thinks her mum likely did recognise for some time that something was not right with her, recalling that her mum caught her drinking SkinnyMint tea before.

Her mum's tears broke her heart, as she was "always known for being a strong woman". That was when she decided to make a change and start her recovery process.

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Finding solace in martial arts

By this point, Lien decided enough was enough.

It was 2015, and she had already graduated from the Sports School.

So she told her parents she would like to take a "break" from swimming — but she secretly knew she would not be going back.

Lien executing the 'collar and sleeve guard' at the Asian Games 2018. (Image via Sport Singapore)

But taking a break from swimming didn't mean taking a break from sport.

She signed up at Evolve MMA for a Muay Thai course after being partly inspired by Ronda Rousey, the American pro wrestler.

"I don't really think about anything when I'm doing martial arts.

If I think about something, it means I'm distracted and that I'm not really in class. I was just doing Muay Thai, Muay Thai.

And it was a different environment. I was no longer in swimming. So I think that really helped me."

She enjoyed it greatly, but was eventually convinced by three friends who were going for BJJ to try it out too — even though she was sceptical of the gi (pronounced "ghee"), the jiu-jitsu attire, dismissing it as "oversized pyjamas".

Not only did she realise it wasn't as bad as she thought, she is the last of her friends still practising it.

The uphill struggle of winning her family's support

Lien grappling with South Korea's Sung Kira during the Jiu-Jitsu women's Under-62kg final at the Asian Games 2018. Sung had injured herself in the knee during an earlier fight. The Korean world champion eventually won 4-2 after a close fight with Lien. (Image via Sport Singapore)

And the rest, as we could say, is history — she went for more BJJ classes and got so good at it that she started competing in the same year she started.

Why start so fast? Lien says it was partly to show her family that she was serious about it.

With the knowledge of BJJ being a contact sport, she says that her family is "still afraid" of her getting injured.

"My entire family flew all the way to Jakarta to support me as they knew I was fighting different belts.

This means my brown and black-belt opponents can do submissions that I'm not exposed to or very familiar with.

They were worried for me as the level of difficulty is higher."

But, she adds, going there to watch her compete has helped — she was able to show them her passion for the sport, and win them over even though they still worry about her getting injured.

Her mum told Evolve MMA in a recent interview that her daughter was the "first athlete that [she knows] who's so full of passion":

"As a mother, seeing her go through all the challenges she had in her life... I'm just so, so, so proud of her."

But Lien really is doing great — last year, she clinched a silver medal in the Asian Open International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) competition, and double golds at the Manila Open IBJJF competition in the under-58.5kg category as well as the absolute division this year, among other achievements

And now, she finds time between classes and studying to train extensively, multiple times a day.

After she graduates early next year, she intends to devote herself into training full-time for the World IBJJF Championships in Los Angeles next year.

Training sans state support

We've talked a lot about training and the amount of time Lien spends doing so, but not about the financial outlay involved — and as any solo, association-less athlete in Singapore will tell you, this doesn't come cheap.

Now out of the generous support system of the Singapore Swimming Association she enjoyed as a national swimmer, Lien's parents are footing the bill of her pursuit of the martial art — a year's membership at Evolve, for instance, sets them back S$4,000, and a single trip overseas to compete (and she's done quite a few by now), costs upwards of S$1,000.

And we've not yet factored in things like physiotherapy, equipment and more — turning pro also means training overseas from time to time, and that will add up for Lien's family.

Lien, however, tells us she hopes to expose more people here to the sport she has benefited much from.

She said that through jiu-jitsu, she learnt discipline, which is something she applies to her daily life — she manages her time independently, planning and going for trainings, and doing additional research to improve in the sport.

Jiu-Jitsu has also made her become stronger (in case you're wondering, she still does those 10km runs, but nowadays she does it "for fun") and more confident in herself. She says:

"I learnt many lessons from it, such as hard work and perseverance. Though you learn this in every sport, I think perhaps you learn it best in martial arts."

But Lien has not left swimming completely behind.

She still swims for Temasek Polytechnic in competitions from time to time, without any training (she gained admission to her course via that route too, actually).

And her natural talent helps her continue to excel in her first competitive sport, sometimes even going faster than her schoolmates who have been training much more regularly.

She even joins some events Charity competes in just "for fun" -- and, we suspect, to annoy her. She laughs, saying she doesn't manage to beat her younger sister's timings, but is often able to come in a close second to her, much to Charity's consternation.

"I guess it comes down to the mind. When I swim for fun, and when there's nothing to lose, I actually do better."

Recovery is a continuous process

Photo by Ilene Fong

And how's she doing, health-wise? Lien tells us she's a lot better now than before, although she adds that the recovery process is a continuous one.

Like any teenager, she still gets insecure about her body sometimes.

She continues to struggle from time to time — overeating in times of stress, and on the occasion her insecurities get the better of her.

From time to time, she also needs to make weight for specific competition categories at times.

But she does so the "healthy" way — even if she needs to cut her weight, she does not go to extremes.

For instance, she tries to do it at least two months, and not two weeks, before the competition so she does not drop weight too quickly.

"This is healthier for both my mind and my body."

Lien also hopes she will bring greater recognition to the martial art here in Singapore. After all, it's the sport where her passion lies.

Ultimately, though, Lien is, let's not forget, still a teenager. She's already making strides in BJJ, but she still has a long way to go.

"I don't have a limit. I'm always pushing myself. I know that I won't have my best self, as your best will always get better."

 

Top image via Ilene Fong