Medal Moments

At the recent Tokyo Olympic Games, Singapore unfortunately didn’t come away with a medal. While there has been a bit of fuss about this from some corners, it’s worth keeping in mind that the Team SG was only 23 strong. America sent 657 athletes to the Games! Here are some other stats:

Singapore at the Games

Number of Olympic appearances: 17 (1948-2020) Number of Olympics with no medals: 13 First medal of any colour: Silver, 1960 Rome

First gold: Joseph Schooling, 2016, Rio

Total medal haul over 72 years: 5 (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)

Rather than dwell on numbers, though, let’s focus on the stories – and we’re sure the athletes who performed their hearts out in Tokyo have a few to tell. For now, though, here’s the tale of Singapore’s first ever medallist, Tan Howe Liang. Tan was a weightlifter whose two Olympic appearances were dramatic, to say the least! At the 1956 Games in Melbourne, he blacked out while attempting a particularly heavy lift. The team manager tried to retire him from the competition, but he insisted on finishing, coming a very respectable ninth. In Rome, four years later, Tan suffered pain in his legs after his first lift, and the authorities tried to shuffle him off to the athletes’ village for treatment. Tan didn’t give up. He went on to beat 33 competitors on his way to claiming silver for Singapore. Oh, and he also broke a world record for the clean and jerk in the lightweight category! Another nine Olympic Games would pass before the country won another medal, a silver in table tennis at the Beijing Olympics.

Best of luck to Singapore’s athletes competing in the 2020 Summer Paralympics from 24 August to 5 September!