Sharon Au celebrates Olympian Caroline Chew in Paris
Local host-actress Sharon Au got into the patriotic mood at the Paris Olympics.
The Paris-based 48-year-old, who migrated to France in 2018, caught Singaporean Olympian, equestrienne Caroline Chew, competing in dressage on July 30.
Dressage involves a rider showing off a horse’s training by performing a set of prescribed movements in front of a panel of judges.
While Chew, 32, who competed in the event with the horse Zatchmo, came in with the lowest scores in her group of 10 riders after her eight-minute performance, Au cheered her on.
On July 31, the artiste shared several photos of herself on Instagram at the Olympics, including a picture with Chew and a photo of Chew riding against the backdrop of the Palace of Versailles, where the competition took place.
Au wrote: “Yesterday, Olympian equestrienne Caroline Chew and (15-year-old) Zatchmo danced through Versailles’ lavish grounds in elegance and lightness, and flew (the) Singapore flag higher and prouder, in the ancient art of dressage.”
Chew suffered a blow at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. She was the first Singaporean to compete in equestrian at the Olympics, but her historic outing in Japan was cut short when she was eliminated from the dressage individual qualification competition after her horse, Tribiani, was found to be bleeding from the mouth.
Au met Chew in 2021 while hosting the documentary Find Me A Singaporean, about Singaporeans pursuing their dreams abroad. Chew – who is based in Britain as a lawyer for the firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer - was one of the Singaporeans featured.
Au wrote of their experience then: “I followed (Chew) from her law firm Freshfields to her stables and training ground in Gloucestershire. I remember we stood in Elton, on the edge of the Forest of Dean, where we could walk wherever we (liked) in that 26 acres of forest land.
“There, Caroline spoke of her Tokyo Olympics journey, with her Olympic horse (Tribiani), and the mental and physical strength it took to compete in high level sports. And now here we are, at the Paris Olympics. I am in awe of your ambition and resilience.”
In an interview with The Straits Times published on July 31, Chew said of her performance in Paris: “I had no real expectations because I knew I’d be carrying a lot of nerves with me and a lot of mini trauma with what happened in Tokyo. And I was just so happy to be able to do this again in front of my family, my friends, my colleagues.”
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