Singaporean jiu-jitsu world champion Constance Lien fighting for mental health
- The 20-year-old purple belt became a world champion in 2019 after swapping swimming for jiu-jitsu just five years ago
- Lien hopes to use her teenage struggles with an eating disorder to help others’ mental well-being
Singaporean jiu-jitsu prodigy Constance Lien has become a national treasure ever since being crowned world champion at the World International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) Championships in 2019, but the former national swimmer’s transition into combat sports was no easy feat.
Born into a family of athletes – her mother was a national team swimmer and her sister is a current one – the 20-year-old purple belt recalled the mental and physical tolls experienced as a teen.
Aside from the habitual 5.30am drop-offs at the pool, cramming in homework during school lunches and constantly sacrificing her social life, Lien’s coaches would start attributing her below-par race performances to weight gain. Over time, the strict diets eventually became self-imposed cracker-and-skinny-tea set meals.
“I developed an eating disorder when I was 15 or 16,” said Lien, who also won gold at the Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines last year. “It came from the pressure of needing to perform and being told that the reason why I wasn’t performing in swimming was due to my weight.
“It gradually turned into an eating disorder because it ignited a lot of insecurities in me – from how I looked to how much I weighed – so it was a rather painful experience. But it made me stronger and if I didn’t go through that, I wouldn’t be able to understand what it’s like, and I wouldn’t be able to help others who are in similar positions.”
