Chan Ah Kow (陈亚九, 1912 – 10 March 1996) was a
Singaporean swimming coach.
Family
Chan was noted for his experimental training methods; though he had little swimming experience himself, he trained his children extensively, helping them go on to dominate swimming in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s. In particular, his youngest daughter
Patricia Chan Li-yin would earn numerous gold medals for Singapore at the
Southeast Asian Games, earning her the moniker "Singapore's Golden Girl". Another daughter of his,
Victoria Lye-hua Chan-Palay, went on to prominence as a neuroscientist in the United States and Switzerland.
His son Roy Chan Kum Wah attended the
Anglo-Chinese School, where aside from distinction in swimming (he was part of the men's 4 × 200 m relay team that won a bronze medal at the
1970 Asian Games
The 6th Asian Games () were held from 9 to 20 December 1970 in Bangkok, Thailand.- - Seoul, South Korea, had been selected to host the 6th Games but it declined due to both financial reasons and security threats from neighboring North Korea. (T ...
) he also achieved excellent academic results, earning him a
President's Scholarship
A President's Scholar is a recipient of the academic scholarship awarded by the Government of Singapore annually, to pursue undergraduate education at a university, usually abroad. The scholarship is considered to be the most prestigious public ...
. Two other sons Alex Chan Meng Wah and
Bernard Chan Cheng Wah were also swimmers, the latter representing Singapore at the
1966 Asian Games
The 1966 Asian Games (), also known as the V Asiad, were a continental multi-sport event that was held from 9 to 20 December 1966, in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 142 events in 16 sports were contested by athletes during the games. Taiwan and Isr ...
. The other son
Mark Chan
Mark Chan (born 1958) is a Singaporean composer, recording artist, singer, instrumentalist, poet, and painter. He studied fine arts at the Edinburgh College of Art later became a composer. One of his granddaughters
Marina Chan
Marina Chan (born Nur Marina Chan Si Min Alif Abdullah; 24 December 1997) is a Singaporean freestyle and butterfly swimmer. Hailing from a prominent swimming family, Chan only took up the sport in her first year of high school. She has represen ...
is also an international swimmer.
Chan was jointly awarded the
Singapore National Olympic Council's first coach of the year award when it was instituted in 1970, along with
Tan Eng Yoon and
Ang Teck Bee; he would go on to receive it again as sole winner in 1971 and 1972.
House
Chan moved into a villa on of land in Mountbatten Road in the 1940s, and raised his family there. It was a local landmark known as the "Chan Villa". The
Urban Development Authority gave it conservation status in 1993. After Chan's death, his family sold the property to
Simon Cheong
Simon Cheong Sae Peng (; born ) is a Singaporean businessman. He was ranked by ''Forbes'' as the 44th richest man in Singapore in 2016. He is the founder of the property developer SC Global Developments Company. Cheong was ranked the 22nd riches ...
of SC Global Development in 2004 for SG$11 million.
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chan, Ah Kow
1912 births
1996 deaths
Swimming coaches
Singaporean people of Cantonese descent