FMS is only aware of two female bodybuilders from the city-state of Singapore,
Joan Liew and Melissa Wee. Today, we bring you recent news of both.
Firstly, congratulations are due to Joan, who won the Tall Physique class at the Arnold Amateur in March. I went there with the intention to win, she said. I came in second last year [as a heavyweight bodybuilder] by one point, so I changed my training and fine-tuned my weaknesses. As an athlete, you have to improve every year.
Bodybuilding: Pumping up at the Arnold 2013
For "the first lady of Singapore bodybuilding" - and the only Asian competitor at the Arnold Amateur - the win is the high point of a journey that has included four Asian bodybuilding titles. During the competition I was very calm and did not feel nervous at all. After the win, I must say I was very happy and also rather emotional, because this award is truly special to me. I have worked 20 years to get it.
Physique: Posing at the Arnold 2014
As far as we know here at FMS, Joan Liew is Singapore's most successful ever athlete, in any sport. But despite that success, she recently told Yahoo Sports Singapore of the total indifference of her country's sporting administrators towards her. I hear about sports excellence all the time. The Singapore Sports Council know who I am, I get a fair share of coverage. I’m not even asking for money. I’d appreciate some form of congratulatory message. I’m putting Singapore’s name on the international scene, at the highest level of competition. A simple message would do, she says.
On the one hand, that's hardly surprising. Where in the world do national sporting bodies give recognition to successful female bodybuilders? Certainly not here in the UK, and probably not in your country either, dear reader. On the other hand, you'd expect a small nation where so few sportsmen and women achieve international success to celebrate every international champion they have.
Nevertheless, the lack of official acknowledgement from within Singapore is not going to stop a woman like Joan. She was already so dedicated to the sport as a teenager that she actually chose which junior college to attend based on their gym facilities - and once there she trained daily and, at the school's request, also spent time whipping into shape some of the more obese students before they started their National Service (so she had already served her country in one sense before she'd even competed!)
These days the clients at the gym she co-owns with her bodybuilding mentor of those 20 years pay her to whip them into shape, though male clients do sometimes have what she calls weird requests for a bit of muscle worship. Not her thing, apparently.
Nor is settling down and getting married like her mother says she should. It almost beggars belief, but the very gorgeous Joan remains single, despite having plenty of admirers from all over the world. Her focus remains very much on spreading the weight training gospel. Women should take control of their own bodies, keep it healthy with bodybuilding, exercising regularly and a good nutrition plan, she says. When you look good, you feel good, and that is a great boost to a woman's self-confidence. Imagine the self-confidence of a woman who looks as good as Joan does!
And in another part of Singapore, Melissa Wee (FMS readers' favourite Singaporean - see Hot and Hard 100 #66) has been preparing to compete overseas for the first time.
Melissa's been having some relationship stuff to deal with in recent weeks (I'm not going into any details, but it's all out there on her Instagram and Facebook pages) so the contest prep has been something of a blessing to take her mind off her problems. It has been a pretty rough week for me. I kept myself distracted by making a lot of plans for my trip to California. I have taken a few big steps forward. 1) I signed up and paid for my competition in LA. 2) I booked & paid for my photo shoot with Natalie Minh for post contest. 3) I booked and paid for my apartment in LA where I'll be staying for 18 days before driving to Vegas. I'm really excited and I can't wait to be in the US. I really need the time to get away and this is the perfect opportunity!
That Melissa already enjoys a sizeable fan base despite never having ventured overseas to compete suggests that she won't be short of offers (either professional or personal) in the next couple of months. The Singapore Sports Council may soon find they have another internationally successful amateur female bodybuilder to ignore!
Enjoy!
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