Malaysian distance swimmer Cai Lin was ominously absent from the 800 freestyle final on Saturday at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, and local paper The Star in Malaysia has tracked down why: tonsilitis.
The defending 800 free champion raced the 400 IM heats to test her health, and wound up not finishing the race. That drove her to pull out of the 800 free race altogether.
“I used the 400 individual medley as a test to see how I was feeling but I could not breathe half-way through my event. Too bad this happened now,” the 26-year old said.
Standing only 5’5″ tall, Lin had won the event at three of the last four Southeast Asian Games dating back to 2007.
While it would’ve taken an 11-second time drop for Lin to defend her title in the event over the red-hot Thi Anh Nguyen, she would have been in contention for the minor medals if healthy.
Lin’s meet is scheduled to continue in the women’s 400 free on Wednesday.
