Former national swimmer Dr Marc Tay dies at age 63

SINGAPORE: Former national swimmer, Dr Marc Tay Tze-Hsin (郑志行), who in 1978 became the first recipient of the Sportsboy of the Year award, died on Tuesday aged 63.

According to Singapore media outlet The Straits Times, The cause of death has not been confirmed.

On Wednesday (16 Aug), Singapore Aquatics announced the sad news on its Facebook post and recalled the excellent achievement Dr Tay contributed to Singapore swimming sports.

His journey in the sport began when he was eight and he competed in various school-level competitions and meets, before donning national colours from 1973 to 1982.

He was one of the most promising swimmers in the Under-17 age group and in 1977, he clocked 56.08 seconds in the 100m freestyle at the Singapore Amateur Swimming Association National Age Group meet to rewrite the previous mark of 56.30sec.

Later that year, he became the first local swimmer to break the 56-second mark in the same event with a 55.85sec effort in the heats at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, before winning bronze in the final.

He racked up two golds, three silvers and three bronzes from four editions of the biennial Games.