Arguably the greatest swimmer ever to come out of Malaysia has announced she is about to call it quits.
Phee Jinq En, a former Olympian who holds multiple national records and swam in the United States at Purdue, announced she will retire in December following the Southeast Asian Games (SEA) in Bangkok,Thailand.
The 27-year-old Jinq En swam her final local meet recently at the Milo/MAS Malaysia Long Course Championships.
After that meet, Phee posted on Instagram that “half the water from this pool is actually my tears.”
“Loved every bit of racing last week,” she continued in the post. “Don’t quite remember the last time I enjoyed racing this much. Thank you all for making my last local race an extra fun one.”
Phee represented Maylasia at both the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where she competed in breaststroke events.
She is the current Malaysian record holder (long course) in the 50 breaststroke (31.40) and the 100 breaststroke (1:08.40), setting both those marks while winning gold medals at the 2019 SEA Games in Manila.
Phee also won gold medals in the 100 breaststroke (1:10.47) at the 2015 SEA Games and the 2017 SEA Games (1:09.00).
While at Purdue, Phee was an NCAA qualifier twice in the 100 breaststroke and was an All-American in 2018 after finishing eighth in the event in a time of 59.32 (short course).
The swimming events for the 2025 SEA Games in Bangkok will take place from Dec. 10-15. Phee will represent Malaysia for the sixth time at the SEA Games.
congrats on a great career!