Chee Swee Lee created history at the 7th Asiad in Teheran in 1974 when she became the first woman in Singapore to win an Asian Games gold medal thereby stopping a 12 year drought.

She clocked 55.08sec, smashing the 400m record by more than a second. Hers was the only second gold medal ever won for athletics in the series. She added a silver and a bronze medal for the relays to her gold.

To cap a fine performance she was awarded the Best Sportswoman title in 1974.