Seven SEAG editions and 14 years later, the amazing Korean-born Yeo has already amassed a whopping 38 gold medals — and she’s still counting.
Adjudged the best female athlete in the 2003 Hanoi Games with a six-gold harvest, Yeo, who operates her own swimming school named Yeo’s Aquatics back home, has become the darling of the crowd at the Trace Aquatics Center here.
After Day 3 alone, Yeo has scooped up four gold medals to become the biennial meet’s first quadruple gold medal winner and has the chance to duplicate her Vietnam feat with two more events lined up for the eight-time SEAG veteran.
Yeo’s biggest moment here came in the 100-m butterfly where she shattered her own record of one minute and 44 seconds she established in Brunei with a time of 59.91 seconds Thursday.
"It’s hard to describe my feelings, I’m so happy I broke the one-minute barrier," said Yeo, who also owns six other SEAG records all she recorded in Brunei.
The veteran of four Olympic Games —1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens — her biggest SEAG harvest was in the 1993 Singapore SEAG with nine at a young age of 13.
She followed it up with seven gold medals in Chang Mai, three in Jakarta, six in Brunei, three in Kuala Lumpur and six in Hanoi, all she credited with her close relationship with God, discipline and hard work.
"I depend on God, my success is tied with Him and He never fails me," said Yeo, who has also snared a bronze medal in the 1998 Bangkok and 2002 Busan Asian Games in the 100-m butterfly. — Joey Villar