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 22 GOLD in SEA Games

NURUL HUDA ABDULLAH

I'm Nurul Huda Abdullah

Nurul Huda Abdullah is one of Malaysia's most accomplished athletes. In the eight years of international competition, she won a total of 34 medals - 22 Gold, 8 Silver and 4 Bronze; an unmatched record till today.

She was also National Sportswoman of the Year five consecutive times (1985 - 1989).

No Malaysian athlete has achieved that. Born in Kuala Lumpur in 1972, Nurul took up swimming when she was four at the Royal Selangor Golf Club.
By the age of seven, she was winning age-group competitions at the Club. At the age of 10,Nurul was already making waves in international swimming. 

"My goal for the 1985 SEA Games was to win medals and at that time my goal was to win 8 medals."

In 1985, at her second SEA Games in Bangkok, Nurul made podium finishes in all her nine events, winning 7 gold, a silver and a bronze. It was an era when Malaysian swimmers dominated the pool in the SEA Games.

At the 1986 Asian Games, Nurul became the first Malaysian to win swimming medals - two silver and two bronze.

In 1987 at the age of 15, she received the IOC trophy for Women in Sport.

At the 1988 Asian Swimming Championships in Guangzhou, Nurul won 2 silver and a bronze - another first for Malaysian women swimmers.  She is the first Southeast Asian swimmer to break both the 60-second mark for the 100 metres freestyle, and the 5-minute mark for the 400 metres Individual Medley.
At the height of her career, Nurul set 10 Malaysian swimming records and had recorded faster times than men in two events. In 2012, she was inducted into the Olympic Council of Malaysia's Hall of Fame. She was appointed Deputy Chef de Mission of the Malaysian contingent to the 2019 Manila SEA Games.

"Yeah, it is remarkable and you know, talking to my kids about it, sometimes I think they don’t really believe me…that I managed to do all those things at such a young age."

TIPS AND TREATS

The Champion In Me

What you want to achieve
Regime
Sacrifices

We Were Champions

Swimming

Achievements

12th SEA Games Singapore (1983)

  • Competed in 2 swimming events - 400m individual medley (finished 4th), and 800m freestyle (finished 8th)

13th SEA Games Bangkok (1985)

  • Won 7 gold, 1 silver & 1 bronze medals from 9 events competed
  • Broke 6 SEA Games records
  • 100m freestyle (gold), 200m freestyle (gold), 400m freestyle (gold), 800m freestyle (gold), 200m butterfly (gold), 200m individual medley (gold), 400m individual medley (gold)
  • 100m butterfly (silver)
  • 4x100m freestyle relay (bronze)

10th Asian Games Seoul (1986)

  • Won 2 silver & 2 bronze medals from 4 events competed
  • 400m freestyle (silver), 800m freestyle (silver)
  • 200m freestyle (bronze), 400m individual medley (bronze)

14th SEA Games Jakarta (1987)

  • Won 7 gold & 1 silver medals from 8 events competed
  • 100m freestyle (gold), 200m freestyle (gold), 400m freestyle (gold), 800m freestyle (gold), 100m butterfly (gold), 200m butterfly (gold), 400m individual medley (gold)
  • 200m individual medley (silver)

3rd Asian Swimming Championships Guangzhou (1988)

  • Won 2 silver & 1 bronze medals from 3 events competed
  • 400m freestyle (silver), 800m freestyle (silver)
  • 200m freestyle (bronze)

XXIVth Summer Olympic Games Seoul (1988)

  • Competed in 3 swimming events - 800m freestyle (ranked 19th), 400m freestyle (ranked 23rd), and 200m freestyle (ranked 27th)

15th SEA Games Kuala Lumpur (1989)

  • Won 8 gold & 2 silver medals from 10 events competed
  • 200m freestyle (gold), 400m freestyle (gold), 800m freestyle (gold), 200m butterfly (gold), 200m backstroke (gold), 200m individual medley (gold), 400m individual medley (gold), 4x100m medley relay (gold)
  • 100m freestyle (silver), 100m butterfly (silver)

11th Asian Games Beijing (1990)

  • Competed in swimming events

Other sporting achievements and accolades

  • Malaysian athlete with the most number of gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games)
  • First Malaysian to win medals in swimming at the Asian Games
  • The only Malaysian female swimmer to have won medals at the Asian Games and Asian Swimming Championships
  • Winner of the Malaysian Sportswoman of the Year in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989
  • Winner of the IOC Trophy for Women in Sport (in 1987) and the first Malaysian to have won this trophy
  • First female swimmer in Southeast Asia to break the 5-minute mark for the 400 m individual medley
  • First female swimmer in Southeast Asia to break the 60-second mark for the 100 m freestyle
  • Held national records in swimming in 10 individual events out of 12 during her swimming career
  • Had faster times than the Malaysian Open records for men in 2 events during her swimming career

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