Meet Ms Kweh Jia Xuan, a 23-year-old athlete with mild intellectual disabilities, who represented Special Olympics Singapore in DanceSport (Latin Dance) for the Special Olympics World Winter Games Turin 2025!

The Special Olympics World Games is the world’s largest humanitarian sporting event, and was hosted in Turin, Italy, this year. Over 100 nations sent nearly 1,500 athletes with intellectual disabilities to compete in 9 sports at the Special Olympics World Winter Games 2025, including 113 participants from the Asia Pacific region representing countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Team Special Olympics Singapore competed in DanceSport, showcasing their talent in the Latin Dance genre in both team and couples’ categories.

Jia Xuan was part of the first-ever team of four athletes with intellectual disabilities, accompanied by four officials, to compete in the inaugural DanceSport competition at the Special Olympics World Games, after DanceSport was unveiled as an official Special Olympics sport in 2019.

Jia Xuan’s passion for Latin Dance ignited during her secondary school years at APSN Tanglin School, through her co-curricular activities. She followed in the footsteps of her mum, Olivia Oh, 53, who was a keen dancer almost 20 years ago. Olivia has been a constant source of support, seeing Jia Xuan’s choice of activity as a fantastic way to stay fit and active. Although Olivia no longer dances herself, she’s one of the Special Olympics DanceSport’s team’s biggest fan, often helping with hair and makeup for performances.

Reflecting on the choice of her co-curricular activity back in school, Jia Xuan said that her decision to choose dance was motivated by her love for music. However, she credits her patient and encouraging coach, Andy Ang, for motivating her to continue training weekly with Special Olympics Singapore’s DanceSport outreach for the past five years. Jia Xuan explained that Coach Andy almost never scolds her during training and if he did lose his temper, he’d apologise for raising his voice.

In a blink of an eye, Jia Xuan has been involved with Special Olympics Singapore’s Latin DanceSport outreach for five years. During that time, she’s performed at numerous events, including the UAE’s National Day Celebrations in Singapore in 2024, and also attained higher qualifications in Latin Dance through the United Kingdom Alliance Dance Bronze Medal Level.

Jia Xuan is truly an all-rounded sporty person. Her mum shared that she loves sports so much that she cycles regularly, involves herself in dragon boat activities with a volunteer-run group called “Different Dragons”, and also plays floorball weekly with Special Olympics Singapore’s sport outreach programmes, having been invited by her friends.

More recently, Jia Xuan was nominated by her coaches to become an Athlete Leader with Special Olympics Singapore because of her desire to serve and her infectious positive attitude – her cheerful energy inspires everyone she meets.

Before taking a break for the intense training for the 2025 World Winter Games, Jia Xuan worked as a kitchen helper at a childcare centre, where she brought joy to her colleagues and the children as the only member of staff with special needs.

Reflecting on her feelings before travelling to Turin, Jia Xuan said, “I felt very happy and proud when I knew I was shortlisted for the World Winter Games, and I hope our team can become champions for Singapore!”

Jia Xuan competed in the Couples and Team categories in Latin Ballroom DanceSport at the Special Olympics World Winter Games Turin 2025. She achieved 4^th place in the Team event and won a Silver Medal in the Couples event with her dance partner, Megan Tang, while her other fellow team mates brought home the Gold Medal for their Couples event.