Helena Wong

Early life and education Wong is the elder of the two siblings in her family. Wong attended Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Toa Payoh School for her primary and secondary education. She was active in sports since young. She represented her school in judo and was a house captain in her upper secondary years. In her late teens, Wong decided to specialise in sports and in 2005, she opted to study sports at Nanyang Polytechnic. She was previously ITE's scholar under their Associate cum Scholarship Scheme.

She met Cyril Martin, a senior weightlifting coach with British Weightlifting (BWL) at the English Weightlifting Championships held at Lilleshall in February 2010 and started training under his guidance soon after when Singapore National Olympic Council selected her to represent the sport and the country as she was just a beginner.

SNOC Secretary-General, Chris Chan remarked that, "We took note of [Wong's] steady improvement and thought she would benefit from this New Delhi outing. Her participation would also give weightlifting a welcome boost as the sport enjoys a revival in Singapore." Liaw believes that "participation in major competitions like the Commonwealth Games is the next step to raising the profile of [weightlifting]" in Singapore. Wong finished the Games with a total of 146 kg (Snatch:66 kg; Clean & Jerk:80 kg) for her debut international outing.

In August 2011, Wong embarked on a 3-month training stint in Zhuhai Sport Institute in Zhuhai, China to better prepare her for the 26th SEA Games held in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia in November 2011. Wong was the only representative for weightlifting and the first Singapore women to compete in weightlifting in the biennial competition. Wong faced tough competitors in the 53 kg category, meeting Thailand's top lifter and the 2008 Olympic (53 kg) champion, Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarkoon who won with a total of 205 kg. Wong finished sixth out of nine lifters, making a total of 153 kg (70 kg snatch, 83 kg clean-and-jerk).

Competitive results