Richard caps career with final SEA Games victory

By Budiman Moerdijat

JAKARTA (JP): The regional champ Richard Sam Bera put his goggles and trunks back in the locker for the last time yesterday after reigning supreme in the SEA Games sprint events.

His final laurels came in the 50m freestyle at the Senayan swimming pool yesterday, when he beat his arch rival Raymond Papa from the Philippines by a body length. On Monday, he had beaten Papa in 100m frestyle.

Swimming in lane one, he was a bit late off the start, but then proved his superiority by gaining speed in the final 25 meters and touched in 23.40 seconds, with Papa trailing in behind in 23.78 seconds.

"It was a big relief for me that I won in the 50m freestyle," he said after the race, adding that he has decided to quit swimming after the 19th Sea Games.

The most poignant moment came during the national anthem, when Richard, overcome with emotion, could not hold back tears.

"I cried because I will never swim for Indonesia again," he said. He was also upset that his first coach, Othman Siregar, who died in 1992 was not there to witness his final victory.

Richard said that in yesterday's race, he was trying to break the long-standing record set by the famous Singaporean sprinter Ang Peng Siong. Peng Siong's mark of 23.27 was set in the 15th SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, eight years ago.

"It was a pity that I am quitting before breaking Peng Siong's record," he said.

Richard, who was born on Dec. 12 1971, has been undefeated in SEA Games sprint swimming over the last four years.

He was also among the few Asian swimmers selected to race in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

"I started to swim in 1978 when I was still in elementary school," he said.

Three years later he showed a sign of what was to come by winning the 50m breaststroke in the Southeast Asia Age Group championship in Singapore.

In 1987, he won a silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay in the 14th SEA Games in Jakarta and two years later in Kuala Lumpur he won 100M freestyle.

Three years after that the Indonesian Swimming Association sent him to California in the United States to improve his times and then in 1993 he moved on to Arizona State University.

While there, Richard majored twice, in politics and economics.

"As a student and athlete, I had to manage my time well," he said.

But he stresses that he is still a normal human being and is now looking for a normal job.

"After all these years, this is now the time for me to be on my own."

However, Richard hinted yesterday that he would happily help Indonesian swimming development by sharing his precious experiences.

"I am optimistic that Indonesian swimming will regain its past glory of the 1970s and 1980s," he said, adding that the national association is applying modern training methods and establishing links with coaches from top swimming countries such as the United States, Germany and Australia.