 Tao was named the inaugural "The Straits Times" Athlete of the Year 2008, and came second in "Today" newspaper's 2008 list of athletes of the year.Tao participated in the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, Laos.On 10 December 2009, she took the gold in the 200 metres backstroke in a time of 2 minutes 17.12 seconds.