10 things to know about Singapore at the Olympics

The country has won a total of five medals since we started sending athletes to compete in the Summer Olympics since 1948. And out of this five, only one is a Gold medal, won by Joseph Schooling in 2016 when he ceremoniously beat world greats in the 100-metre butterfly event for swimming. The first ever medal was won by Tan Howe Liang in 1960 where we won a Silver in the lightweight weightlifting event. 

Flag bearers play an important role in the opening ceremony as they will also be leading in the contingent of athletes from their country. Leading Singapore in and carrying the flag at this year's opening ceremony in Tokyo will be badminton player Loh Kean Yew and table tennis player Yu Mengyu. 

Amanda Ng might be competing in the Windsurfing RS:X event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this year but this seasoned athlete also competed in the 2016 edition in Rio in the Women's Two Person Dinghy-470 sailing event. This fighter almost didn't make it this year – she injured herself just two days before the Asian qualifiers but pulled through and secured still herself a spot.

Singapore has largely participated in every single Summer Olympic games with the exception of the 1980 Moscow Olympics when Singapore joined a US-led boycott. The international boycott of the Soviet Union-hosted 1980 Olympics was due to the global political circumstances from the Cold War era and the invasion of Afghanistan by forces from the Soviet Union. 

After being postponed in 2020, the Olympics are back on track in 2021, in Tokyo – with heightened measures. Obviously the city won't be filled with cheering tourists from all around the world but representatives from each country have started arriving. Ahead of the start of the games on July 23, Singapore already have athletes who have qualified for their events in the Olympics, mainly in sailing, swimming, table tennis, diving, fencing, gymnastics and shooting. 

Singapore and Malaysia competed under the same flag way back in 1964 at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. This was after the merger of Singapore and Malaya in 1963. What a time. 

A joint bid for the Summer Olympics in 2032 between Singapore and Malaysia were talked about since 2014 but in 2018, the Olympic Council of Malaysia Honorary President Tunku Imran choose to withdraw from plans due to the suspension of the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high-speed rail project. The project itself was also later cancelled. Both countries have yet to host a huge scale event like the Olympics in its countries but Kuala Lumpur and Singapore has hosted several editions of the Southeast Asian Games apiece. Singapore also hosted the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. 

In the years after Singapore's independence, the nation worked hard to build infrastructure, systems and community. Sports of course was part of this nation-building and the National Stadium was opened on July 21, 1973 before Singapore hosted the 7th SEAP (Southeast Asian Peninsular) Games. Then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew made a landmark speech which made clear his stance on sports: 

“With a population of just over two million, let us not waste time going especially out of our way to produce gold medallists, whether for Olympic, Asian or SEAP Games. There are no national benefits from gold medallists for smaller countries. For the superpowers, with large populations, superiority in sports is national propaganda to persuade other people of the superiority of their competing political systems. But it is foolish and wasteful for smaller countries to do this." 

Do note it was a different time then when Singapore was still starting out – he became very supportive of Singapore's Olympic (and sporting) endeavours in his later years. 

We almost didn't make it to the 1948 London Olympics because when Britain was sending out invitations to its colonies, dependencies and dominions to participate, the crown colony Singapore was left out because we did not have an Olympic council. Miffed by the exclusion, the colonial government created the Singapore Olympic and Sports Council on May 27, 1947 and sent its first athlete Lloyd Valberg to compete in the high jump event in the 1948 Olympics in London.

Singapore athlete P.C. Suppiah is known for being the first long distance runner to represent the country in the Olympics. However, in the 1972 Olympics held in Munich, he was also known for competing in the 10,000-metre event barefoot. He said that he was in his element and running barefoot was how he started many years ago.