Go Go Go Joseph

Joseph Schooling, not in a technicolor dreamcoat, but in his swimsuit and goggles walked into the Olympic Swimming arena in Rio 12 Aug 9.10am Singapore time and made history, and his dreams come true.

With giants like Michael Phelps and Chad Le Clos in the pool, Joseph Schooling swam the fastest 100m Butterfly in Olympic HIstory - 50.39s!  - for the Gold Medal.  Phelps, Le Clos and Laszlo Cseh tied for the Silver (certainly something you don't see every medal ceremony).  

Joseph had already made history the day before just by qualifying for the finals, with a swim of 50.83s in the semifinals for the event.  Many of us had stopped work (As evidenced by the numerous Facebook posts I saw after the swim) just to catch the event.  Today, fortunately, is Saturday and so I could watch on the big TV screen instead of my little iPad.  Fortunately, I still kept the iPad on hand, to take screenshots of memorable moments.

Here are just a few photos, to mark this major milestone in Singapore's sporting history.  Indeed, in Singapore's history.

Joseph's journey to the winner's podium has taken 15 years, ever since he was 6 years old. It's a story of single minded determination, coupled with talent, hard work, effort, and incredible family support.  

And here's the TODAY article in which Joseph thanks all of his friends, family, coaches, etc who supported him over the years.

Go go go Jo!  You made it today.  And all of us are proud of you!

The Youth Olympic Games are Here!

As I type this,  the Opening Ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore is underway (I'm watching it on TV).  Now that it is officially here, I find myself quite caught up/interested in the games. Maybe it is because the Olympic flame drove past my house last Sunday (well, actually the main road outside my house). Or maybe because the "Give Way" signs on the roads are a constant reminder of the Games.  Or the inspiring story of little Wei Jie following the flame for 15km wearing flipflops. 

Whatever it was, I found myself standing on the roadside yesterday at noon, waiting for the flame to pass down Lim Liak Street in Tiong Bahru (the day's route is here). My colleagues had volunteered for the honour of bearing the flame and I was happy to be there at this historic moment to support them.  We waited for a bit and two buses of young people drove past, cheering and waving (we waved back). Then, the flame appeared and my first colleague's moment of glory had arrived! 

All too soon, however, he had to pass it on to the next torchbearer (another colleague).  The moment was over.

And, as I type this line, the Opening Ceremony has just ended. I loved the spectacular ending- the last torchbearer, Darren Choy, the 15 year old sailor, running across the reflecting pool to the lighthouse at the end - and the flame streaking up the tower to the lamp on top. It was so special moment - that last lone runner, the reflections on the water, the mist and lights in the background.  At this mystical, magical moment, I felt proud of Singapore. 

Table Tennis - Olympics Team Finals

Last Sunday our women's team played the Chinese for a Gold Medal. Well, we did not win and many did not expect us to. But unfortunately Li Jiawei said before the game that she did not expect to win and many people then felt that she was not showing fighting spirit. What will make people happy? Why penalise Jiawei for forgetting how to be politically correct? The newspaper article also commented that she showed more fight during her semi-final match with Zhang Yining in the women's singles. Well, what does one expect? She had not got any medal yet!


I'm quite proud of our table tennis team, so much so that I made a video of the match off my tv. Fortunately, at a point they were doing well. Here is my little video:

Go girls! London 2012!

Oh, Frabjous Day!

It is not every day that Singapore gets an Olympic medal, so I thought I would commemorate it. Well done to our table tennis women's team of Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu, and Fang Tianwei. They have done us proud.

Watching the Olympics, I realised that for many events, it is about consistent excellence. Take the men's gymnastics individual medal, for example. Yang Wei performed consistently well across all apparatus and took the Gold, predictably. But the gentleman who took the Bronze won because he did a great vault, and was consistent throughout the rest of his performances without making mistakes. He was more surprised than anyone else when those ranked above him put a foot wrong or fell off the apparatus, leaving him in third place.

On the subject of gymnastics, I really am very cross with the Starhub folk. They didn't show the repeat telecast of the female gymnastics individual medal! Instead they show women's football, volleyball and beach volleyball. Goodness me. The next day, the papers feature the performance of the female gymnasts and don't give any newsprint to the other three events. Of course pride of place and the most amount of coverage goes to our table tennis gals! Well done again to them!

Finally, I found a number of Olympic atheletes have started blogging. It is quite interesting to browse through them. Here's the link.

p.s. The photo is of the logo on my Beijing Olympics t-shirt, given to me by my classmate who works in the Sports Bureau in one of the Chinese provinces.