Tao Li

Born: 10/01/1990

Place of birth: Wuhan, China

Event: Swimming

Previous Olympics: 1

Previous medals: 0

One of Singapore's most recognisable sportswomen, Tao Li is an intensely competitive and focused swimmer who has continued to push her adopted nation's boundaries in the pool.

The determination that runs through the Chinese-born star was honed by an arduous journey to the top, as she belied her small stature with a steely attitude and relentless will to win that has seen her raise Singaporean hopes of making the sporting headlines.

Since bursting onto the scene at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games at the age of 15, Tao has set a host of national and Asian records in the butterfly, but she almost did not reach Singapore at all.

Born in Wuhan, the only child of two swimming coaches initially seemed set to represent the country of her birth but in 2001, the family moved to Singapore to look for work.

Tao's mother eventually managed to find a job as a coach but Tao went back to China with her father to pursue her swimming career, only to return in 2003 when it became evident that she would not make the national team.

Although the family encountered financial difficulties and Tao, who was somewhat older than her classmates, found learning English a particular hardship, they persevered and in 2005, she became a Singaporean citizen.

She stunned her new compatriots with three individual golds and a bronze at that year's Southeast Asian Games and has not looked back since.

In 2006, she reached the finals of the 50, 100 and 200 metres butterfly at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, before winning Singapore's first Asian Games swimming gold medal in 24 years when triumphing in the 50m butterfly in Doha.

Tao became the first Singaporean woman to reach a final at the 2007 FINA Aquatics World Championship - again in the 50m butterfly - before topping that 16 months later in Beijing by qualifying for the 100m and becoming the nation's first-ever swimmer to contest an Olympic final.

She finished fifth, a second behind winner Libby Trickett, setting both national and Asian records along the way.

More success followed with three golds and a silver in the FINA World Cup series and two years later, she defended her Asian Games 50m butterfly title in Guangzhou.

The 22-year-old is not afraid to ruffle some feathers either, a testament to her fierce single-mindedness.

In 2008, she reportedly criticised the Singapore Swimming Association's decision to begin taxing swimmers' cash awards, part of which was to be set aside for youth development, while towards the end of last year she spilt with coach Barry Prime due to a difference of opinion regarding her preparation for London 2012, where she carries the expectations of a nation.