Olympics Lessons for Singapore National Day 2021

Every National Day on 9 August, I recalled how Singaporeans had stood at the edge of a dark tomorrow and an even darker past.

It was worse than the worst of times.?And the worst had yet to come.?Our age of foolishness had passed.?We woke up and realized we were alone, once more.?It was the epoch of belief and hope.?Summers were still hot, and the Winters warm and wet.?The darkness grew thick and thicker, seemingly impenetrable by any light.?Many thought we were all going direct to Hell, but we had already been there before being cast out as a pariah and bastard child.?We had nothing but each other.?It was enough.?We decided to leave our future behind and chose to create the future awaiting us.

That first 9th August 1965 was our Olympian moment as?“One People, One Nation” when picked up the pieces of our young Nation which so many had written us off.?We had believed in one another when we?failed in our Merger victory, and we prevailed.?It is always easier to keep our faith and believing when we are succeeding.

Today 56 years on, we had emerged from the ashes of a failed vision more prosperous, stronger, more rugged, more resilient, more robust and independent.?Our natural right to survive as an independent sovereign nation cannot and must never be compromised or sacrificed.?Our authenticity as a Nation providing exceptional value to the World has been and shall always be visibly demonstrated without any equivocation.

THE 4 OLYMPIAN LESSONS TO BE REMEMBERED

Today, our 23 Olympians returned from their battles at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics holding their heads high, and mindful that Team Singapore had won medals at 3 consecutive Olympics, including a historic Gold by our homeboy Joseph Schooling.

On National Day 2021, at the confluence of national jubilation and sporting excellence, let us remember 4 important lessons from our Olympians and history.

1) One Goal – Be Stronger, Faster, Higher, Together.?BE BETTER.

The Olympics ideals promote excellence in the field of sports.?The values for sporting excellence are however the same values as survival and nation-building – integrity, fairness, equality, diversity, objectivity, justice and continuous improvements, regardless of race, language or religion. ??

Over the last 2 weeks (24 July – 9 August 2021), nearly 11,000 athletes competed in 339 medal events at 42 venues in Tokyo and around Japan. ?They came from 205 countries as well as Olympic Committees, including a Team of Refugees.?Nearly half of the athletes were women.

The intense competition saw 20 world records broken; 6 in swimming, 3 in athletics, 3 in cycling, 3 in wrestling, 3 in weightlifting, 1 in shooting and 1 in the new sports climbing event.?

The friendship, collegiality and fraternal bonds forged among the 11,000 Olympians is worthy of emulation by nations and people.?Sports has fostered mutual trust and understanding, leading to tolerance and empathy, for an environment of harmony and safety.?Reasonable rules subscribed consensually also assure social order and peace.?The world is certainly better off with these Olympian human values without wars and acrimonious conflicts. ?????

2) Never Quit – WE ARE FAMILY

Singapore has 23 Olympians in a record 12 different sports; among whom, 17 are first-timers making their debut at the penultimate sports excellence level.?4 of them - Chantal Liew (marathon swimming), Caroline Chew (equestrian), Freida Lim and Jonathan Chan (diving) - became the first Singaporeans from their respective sports to compete on the Olympic stage. ?

It is easy to be disappointed by those who won Olympic medals before, but not in Tokyo this time. ?As I watched their performance on TV, I shared and empathised the pain of their disappointments, and we should not aggravate them with our unreasonable expectations.??

Sports, like life, are like that.?Winning and losing are part and parcel of the process.?The only permanent constant is change.?Excellence is only fleeting and momentary, never permanent. ?There are more instances of losing than winning in any sports.?

Joseph Schooling’s Olympic Gold Medal from the 2016 Rio Olympics remains my inspiration of what Singaporeans can achieve because he has.?Because others before him had also brought home Olympic medals, beginning with Weightlifter Tan Howe Lian’s Silver Medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics, followed by our Table Tennis Silver Medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Bronze Medals in the 2012 London Olympics. ?Basically, Singaporeans can perform well on the Olympic stage.

The personal qualities of resilience, discipline, perseverance, professionalism, tenacity, fearlessness, drive, calmness and determination were very visible in our Olympians in Tokyo.?They gave no quarter and asked for none.?Their fellow competitors did not underestimate them for a moment.?Our Singaporean “Spartans” returned home to the warm, loving and welcoming arms of a grateful nation ever so proud of our representation in Tokyo. We shall do better in Paris 2024 Olympics in 3 years, we vow.

I remember some years ago, the Principal of a top school decided to eliminate Football from the School’s sports activities because “we have not been winning the District Championship”. ?The same school prior to 1970 had in fact captured all the major schoolboy soccer titles in Singapore.?It has also produced three future S-League bosses, a future national coach and four future national players.?If the same School Principal were in charge of sports and the Singapore Olympics, we would not be participating any sports, unless we can assure him of medal victories. ?Teaching students to be “quitters” should not be in the school curriculum.

We need to seriously revisit our sports development ecosystem, and ask ourselves seriously why we have been unable (or unwilling) to nurture more sports performers like Joseph Schooling??Even the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) need to critically seek local talent instead of resorting to the easy way of recruiting foreign talent.?It’s only table tennis, people! ??????

Developing from the ground up from schools, we have about 30,000 children per year to choose from and develop as sports talent across all sports. Holistic development demands deliberate time set aside for sports; the syllabus can be shortened, and class size can be made smaller for better learning facilitation.?Sports Associations, the Ministry of Education and Sports Coaches must design innovative incentives for those talented in sports to chart their path to careers, higher education, Polytechnics and Universities through direct entry assisted by scholarships, grants and allowances. ?That’s what family does for each other. ??

3) More than One Excellence – BEYOND ACADEMIA

We need to expand our definition of “excellence” beyond academics.?Many of our Olympians have postponed and delayed their studies to prepare for international competitions.?Are academic study and sports incompatible? ?Should there be trade-offs between the 2??The following are cases in point.

Our own Dr Ben Tan, who is the Chef de mission for Team Singapore at the Tokyo Olympic was a Gold Medalist in the SEA Games and competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.?He is also a medical doctor and managed to combine his love for sports and medicine.?He was also Team Singapore’s sports physician at the 2002 and 1998 Asian Games, and the 2001 and 1999 SEA Games in his capacity as the Singapore Sports Council’s medical officer from 1996-2003.

Chinese runner Dr Su Bingtian is not just an athlete. He is a Professor at Beijing Sports University, and an Associate Professor at Jinan University in Guangzhou, with a PhD in Sports Science. He also holds a Master’s degree in International Business and Trade.?He became the fastest Chinese and Asian to compete without winning in the final of the 100m Men’s Event in Tokyo since 1932.?His timing is on par with the 12 fastest human sprinters of all times. ?And he was honoured as China’s flag-bearer at the Tokyo Games Closing Ceremony.

There are however many other areas besides spots which any Singaporean can aspire to be good in.?Academic is just one, and getting good grades is important to be able to pursue whatever field of study one chooses. Singaporeans are in fact found globally excelling in areas like music, art, design, research, teaching, sports, operating businesses, trading commodities like oil, petroleum, orange juice and soya beans etc, writing as well as any fields of human endeavour.

True talent is visible to all, and the impact of real talent is to add value to benefit others, especially to encourage their fellow countrymen and women, as well as the coming generations not only by bringing honour and glory to Singapore but to propel her to ever greater heights of authentic excellence and achievements in many talent domains.

Our educators, talent developers, sports officers and political leaders must go back to School for a re-imagination of our talentscape and re-calibrate the limitless talent possibilities of our children and their grandchildren, so as to have more Olympians and other talents for Singapore.

We should develop our children to become the best of their human potential. ?Schools have to be re-designed to unpack their creativity, innovativeness, imagination and mindfulness to allow multiple excellence to grow.?The Big Win is for Singapore to become a true Centre of Excellence when our only resource, human technology, is carefully nurtured and developed to its ultimate best.

4) Beyond Excellence – A SHARING WORLD

To me, the best moment in the Tokyo Olympics was when Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi and Qatar's Mutaz Barshim decided to share the high-jump gold rather than contest the title further. They had each executed perfectly their first 6 jumps up to 2.37 meters, but neither Barshim nor Tamberi could jump over the Olympic-record height of 2.39metres. ?The Games Official proposed the question: Did they want to go forward with a jump-off to decide who would win a gold medal? ?The men looked at each other and smiled. “Can we have two Golds?” Barshim asked, and the Official nodded. At which point Barshim grinned, and nodded to the watching Italian, who slammed a hand into his, leapt on him briefly and then pranced away with a wild cry of triumph and jubilance.

Who says there should be only one winner in a competition??In sharing the Gold Medal, they had both won the hearts of every Olympian and spectators with their true sportsmanship.??

“The most important thing is not winning but taking part.” - Pierre de Coubertin, IOC Founder.?This is Olympism, the uniquely exceptional life philosophy which can make us a better world and society when everyone subscribes to it.?It is our National Day 2021 Message.

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