The route to humility involves a broom, a bucket and toilets. Mahatma Gandhi knew this and so does Teong Tzen Wei. A few years ago, the butterfly swimmer felt he should be more independent and that his mother shouldn’t have to pay for his gym sessions. So he asked the owners of the Athletic Inc gym if they’d make him a deal.
You give me some free sessions. I’ll clean the toilets.
And, he says, for a year and a half he did.
“It helped to shape me,” says Teong, 26, who won the 50m butterfly silver at the 2023 Asian Games. Then he went further. He took the money he earned from the Major Games Award Programme and bought himself a five per cent share in the gym. The future was at stake, you understand – of kids he might help guide and of himself once he has retired from swimming.
“I don’t want to swim past 30,” he says and it’s a deadline set by a young athlete. When he gets there he may not be ready to exchange swimwear for a suit. Nevertheless, in a world whose combatants don’t usually look beyond their lanes, Teong is looking past the finish line. He is aware that sport can be an escape but also a prison.
“I feel there comes a certain point where you’re just swimming because you’re scared to take the next leap. I don’t really want to be caught in that situation because it won’t be very exciting just doing it because I’m fearful of what’s next.”
And so he wants to be prepared, not just to slip into some corporate role, but to be a brand, to turn skills in water into value on land, and so he’s making plans, charting roadmaps, displaying a prescience not usually associated with athletes. “I want to use the opportunities I have while I am still swimming to build a brand and a platform I can grow after I am done with swimming.”
Teong isn’t intimidated by Singapore’s flimsy sporting culture or the limp interest by business houses. He’s ambitious enough to want to be an inspiration. “I have always,” he said, “looked to global stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and admired the way they used their platform to amplify their impact and build a future for themselves and the community.”
Why can’t Singaporean athletes be a version of this? They may lack equivalent credentials or reach, but can they turn themselves into brands within their own narrow geography? One hurdle is convincing Singaporeans – and sponsors – of the value of athletes. We look up to doctors and TV stars, but athletes lack that heft in the public discourse.
“But,” says Teong, “sponsors haven’t been sold the right story” and if he’s cocky he’s also right. Athletes are the repositories of great virtues, young folks who are undeterred by adversity and arm themselves with discipline as they chase their furthest limits. Their stories, even at a local level, should have greater resonance than they do. Teong believes he can help alter this and be a sports influencer.
And so he committed himself to an experiment.
In a world where followers equal power, Teong decided to try something on Instagram this January. He’d offer value, post videos on drills, offer tips on nutrition and advice on mental strength and see where it went. “I told myself just to be consistent, every day, non-stop. For the first one to two months nothing really happened. Almost like my swimming. And then after a while it started to gain traction and then boom.”
His number of followers went from 4,000 to 113,000. In five months.
Teong backed off then for he required all his focus for the Asian Games, but he’d convinced himself. Here was a possible pathway. “I need,” he says, “to build a whole brand around my personal story” and he will accept this, as he does so much in life, as a challenge. One day retirement will come to claim him but at least he’s thinking ahead. One might say a young fellow who cleaned toilets is flush with ideas for his future.
