Anthony_Ang
Anthony Ang
Malaysian swimmer
Anthony Ang Kang Keam (born 6 December 1978) is a Malaysian former swimmer, who specialised in butterfly events.[1] He is a two-time Olympian (1996 and 2000), a double SEA Games titleholder in a butterfly double, a Bolles School graduate, and a member of Florida State University (1998-1999) and University of Minnesota (2000-2002) swimming and diving team while studying in the United States.[2]
Ang accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida for 2 seasons (1998 & 1999)[3] and later joined University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he played for the Minnesota Golden Gophers under head coach Kelly Kremer.[4][5] In the year 2001 edition of Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, he came in first in the 200-yard butterfly (1:44.25) along with rewriting both the varsity and pool record.[6][7] At the 2001 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, he powered home with top finishes, as the only Gopher, in the 100-yard butterfly (49.09) and the 200-yard butterfly (1:46.21).[8]
Ang made his first Malaysian team, as an eighteen-year-old teen, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. There, he failed to reach the top 16 final in any of his individual events, finishing forty-fifth in the 100 m butterfly (56.41), and thirty-first in the 200 m butterfly (2:04.01).[9][10] He also placed twentieth, along with his Malaysian teammates Alex Lim, Elvin Chia, and Wan Azlan Abdullah, in the 4 × 100 m medley relay (3:56.24).[11]
At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Ang competed again in three swimming events, including a butterfly double. He achieved FINA B-standards of 56.47 (100 m butterfly) and 2:02.72 (200 m butterfly) from the Southeast Asian Games in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.[12][13][14] In his first event, 200 m butterfly, Ang posted a lifetime best of 2:00.12 to lead the second heat, but missed the semifinals by 0.71 of a second with a twenty-second-place effort.[15][16] Three days later, in the 100 m butterfly, Ang placed thirty-sixth on the morning prelims. He established a Malaysian record of 55.26 to blister the field with another top finish in heat one.[17][18] Ang also teamed up with Chia, Lim, and newcomer Allen Ong in the 4 × 100 m medley relay. Swimming a butterfly leg in heat one, Ang recorded a split of 55.70, but the Malaysians settled only for last place and twenty-second overall in a final time of 3:48.32.[19]
When Malaysia hosted the 2001 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Ang came up with a spectacular swim to strike a butterfly double in front of a massive home crowd, capturing two gold medals each in the 100 m butterfly (55.40) and 200 m butterfly (2:01.84).[20]