Ever since Christel Bouvron took the 16th place in her debut at the 19th SEA Games in Jakarta in 1997 she has not turned back.

At the FINA World Cup in Australia in January, Christel had improved on her personal best time in three (short course) events; the 200m Butterfly, 50m and 400m Freestyle. She bettered her personal best again in the 200m Freestyle and 200m Butterfly at the 6th Asian Swimming Championships in Pusan, Korea in March and at the same time qualified for the Olympic Games in three events.

Christel's dedication to swimming is highly commendable. She had sacrificed preparing for her GCE “O” Levels Examination in 2000 to focus on the Olympic Games. At the age of 16, Christel had become a member of an exclusive club, the Olympians. Christel was also the Sportsgirl of the Year 1998.