Wow, what a swim by Singapore’s very own Joseph Schooling in the 100m butterfly final. After over a month of not having penned anything on this blog, I join thousands of Singaporeans in gushing over this swimming sensation. I can’t help it – it was so brilliant to watch Schooling fly to the wall with the athletic grace of an elite swimmer in a nail-biting 50.39 seconds. I’m so happy that I happen to be back in Singapore during this momentous occasion to revel in the collective joy of the nation.
For the first time in Singapore’s history, we understood what it was like to have sports unite a nation and the pride we all felt in witnessing our national anthem being played in an Olympic arena as our flag was hoisted above three other flags. What a great feeling that was!
It was such a touching moment to see the hard work and sacrifice of one young man and his parents come to fruition. Credit goes to him and his parents alone; it’s really disgusting to see all these commercial enterprises and Singapore ministers trying to ride on his accomplishments when they had zilch to do with it in the first place.
To think that Mediacorp didn’t initially want to get the live broadcast rights and the government didn’t want to intervene and fork out the damn money. Seriously, it’s not like we are a third-world nation that cannot afford a few million dollars to watch our Olympians – one a serious medal contender and eventual champion to boot – live in action. This government of ours is really losing it. Singaporeans should have just crowdfunded the live broadcast. That would have really made a good statement to those powers that be.
Nevertheless I’m thankful Singaporeans got to watch a live broadcast in the end. It would have become the world’s greatest joke if the world had watched Schooling beat the world’s most accomplished swimmer and set an Olympic record while at it, but his home country had no clue what was happening in real time. Oh, the travesty of what could have been.
The Schooling family is such an inspiration to all Singaporeans. They have shown us Singaporeans there are more paths in life to tread apart from the well-trodden one. It’s so wonderful to see a determined and goal-oriented boy who has excelled with the support of his far-sighted and open-minded parents. Not many parents would be willing to support their child in pursuing such a dream or life path. The road less travelled is always more difficult but the journey and destination are more often than not much more rewarding and spectacular.
It would be great to have more Singaporeans, myself included, take more inspiration from the Schoolings. From Joseph Schooling, the fact that hard work, perseverance, discipline and daring to dream can lead to success and extraordinary things. From his parents, the fact that there are other things a child can do apart from getting a normal corporate job, getting a HDB flat at 25 and settling into life forever in Singapore. That they took a young boy’s lofty ambitions seriously and did their best for him is truly admirable.
I’m still so happy at what this young Singaporean and his parents have done for Singapore. I hope that in Tokyo 2020 and beyond, Singapore will be able to field more Olympians in a greater repertoire of sports as a sporting culture hopefully evolves. A swim relay team in both the men’s and women’s events would be nice too!
Go Team Singapore!
