The Paris Olympics has gripped the nation these past few weeks, with everyone in Singapore rooting for our athletes — all 23 of them — with bated breath, as they try their best to excel in their chosen sport against a sea of other talented individuals.
Every athlete dreams of winning a gold medal at the oldest sports competition in the world, and the nation’s sportsmen and sportswomen are no different.
As with previous years, Singapore is sending several debutants to the competition for experience and to get a feel of the world level, with hopes they might glean a thing or two to help them in future showings.
One example is 17-year-old table tennis player Izaac Quek, who expressed that he hadn’t expected to be competing in Paris.
However, another 17-year-old making his debut already comes with considerable pedigree — kitefoiler Max Maeder has two world championships under his belt and enters his category as the one to beat.
A majority of Singaporeans believe Maeder holds the best shot at winning Singapore’s next medal, according to a poll run by Answers.sg.
At least one sports observer MS News spoke to agreed that the excitement surrounding Maeder is real and hopes he’ll deliver a medal for Singapore, last won in 2016.
Although other names such as Loh Kean Yew, a former badminton world champion in 2021, fell at the quarter-final stage in Paris, his achievement still marks him out as one of the best in the world, said one expert.
Source: Olympics
Singapore has only won five medals in the history of the Olympics — one gold, two silvers, and two bronzes.
Swimmer Joseph Schooling achieved the historic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, remaining the one to equal and surpass even after his retirement earlier this year.
Out of 2,175 voters, more than 30% of voters picked sailing as a gold medal prospect at the Olympics.
Poll results retrieved from Answers.sg.
With many Singaporeans now acquainted with kitefoiler Maeder, helped by his stellar tournament results, sailing has emerged as a genuine contender for a gold medal.
Badminton is the other popular option — names such as the aforementioned Loh and Yeo Jia Min are well-established and have previously had good results. More than a quarter of respondents, or 27%, believed badminton would lead Singapore to gold.
Although Singapore’s sprint queen Shanti Pereira has had top showings at the South East Asian Games (SEA Games) and Asian Games last year, winning a silver medal in the 100m race in the latter, it seems athletics isn’t an area Singaporeans have much confidence in.
Only 12% picked athletics as a gold medal possibility.
Source: Olympics
The same goes for swimming, which 13% of respondents selected.
Table tennis, which saw a heyday back in 2008 and 2012 when our athletes delivered a silver (2008) and two bronzes (2012) – the country’s first medals since the 1960s – has enjoyed a slow resurgence in recent years.
However, most Singaporeans don’t appear to think it’s the paddlers’ time to shine yet, at least for this year.
Former national fencer and former Nominated Member of Parliament Nicholas Fang said it has been heartening to watch household names such as Loh and Pereira at the world stage.
“Loh equaling our best-ever result in reaching the quarterfinals shows how much of a big-game performer he is, and has established himself as among the very best in the sport on the global stage,” he noted.
“Pereira has also bounced back strongly from her recent injury challenges to perform well at the Olympics in Paris.”
However, he cautioned that expectations will build for our athletes as they climb higher in the ranks and in tournaments.
“Our athletes will eventually need to be prepared to start to contest for the top places in their respective events, to keep pace with the investment and public attention that sports is expected to attract going forward,” he said.
Sports journalist Raj Kumar noted this, and said that the expectations for Southeast Asia’s second-fastest woman was of a much higher placing in the overall rankings in the heats.
She placed last in both her heats and the subsequent repechage, but said later that she’ll bounce back from her setback, declaring that she’ll return stronger for the 2028 Olympics.
Though our paddlers aren’t in the spotlight this time, Mr Kumar told MS News he has his eye on Zhou Jingyi, 18, and Quek for the future.
Both teens made their Olympics debut this year, participating in the women’s and men’s singles respectively.
Zhou Jingyi (left) and Izaac Quek. Source: Singapore Table Tennis Association and ActiveSG Circle
Zhou didn’t make it past the first round, where she fell to Romanian Bernadette Szocs (ranked world number 13) 4-1. Quek was also eliminated in the Round of 64 by Darko Jorgić of Slovenia.
Though young, both Zhou and Quek are ones to look out for, said the 53-year-old. “Jingyi and Izaac have done extremely well in the European WTT youth circuit events, as well as the SEA Games.”
Even if their journey in Paris ended early, Mr Kumar believes they should be able to “showcase their true prowess” at the 2028 Olympic Games to be held in Los Angeles in the USA.
Mr Fang concurred, admitting that he personally enjoys watching younger Team Singapore athletes, especially debutants, make their first foray into the Olympic arena.
He said there is much potential in our youths, given how more Singaporean athletes are qualifying outright for the Olympics, across a range of different sports.
“This is vital if we are to achieve a critical mass of world-class athletes who can fight for gold at the Olympics podium, and the highest levels of international sporting competition.”
He also shared that as a former fencer, he has been keeping tabs on the national fencers, Kiria Tikanah and Amita Berthier.
Source: Team Singapore on Facebook
Berthier, 23, had qualified for Paris via individual ranking points while Kiria, 24, secured her spot via the Asia-Oceania Zonal Olympic Qualifier.
The latter then caused an upset when she defeated Peru’s Maria Luisa Doig, ranked #46 in the world.
Source: Team Singapore
Although she eventually lost to world #3 Alberta Santuccio, Kiria said, according to The Straits Times (ST), that she was “more disappointed by the result” than by her fencing.
“I feel (they) have a lot of potential to do something special in Los Angeles in 2028,” Mr Fang said. “They both qualified outright for Tokyo and Paris, and I suspect they will be disappointed at not having improved on their results in Tokyo.”
He added: “Fencing is a sport that requires not just physical prowess, but mastery of nerves, strategy, and the ability to take on an opponent woman-to-woman, who is also intent on beating you.”
Those who perform well in such conditions tend to be more mature and “have a wealth of experience to draw from”, Mr Fang noted.
“Having gone through trials by fire in their Tokyo and Paris Olympic journeys, both Kiria and Amita will be well-positioned to target medals in Los Angeles in four years’ time, and potentially even lead a team to qualify for the Olympics for the first time ever in Singapore’s fencing history.”
Mr Kumar said he was particularly looking forward to watching Maeder compete at the Olympics.
“He has a unique backstory to his origins in this sport, which he started when he was only six,” he said. “And to see him become the Asian Games champion and world champion twice by the age of 17, and now on the verge of excelling at the Olympics — it’s truly something spectacular.”
Mr Kumar added that kitefoiling “is not as easy as it looks and it is an extreme sport”, making Maeder’s exploits even more admirable to watch. He considers Maeder “the best medal hopeful” in Paris 2024.
Mr Fang agreed, noting his excitement in seeing how Maeder will cope with the pressure of being among the favourites for a medal in kitefoiling.
At just 17 and with even more potential for growth, Maeder has already captured the hopes of a nation.
But if the teen is cowed by the pressure, he certainly isn’t showing it.
He previously told MS News in an exclusive interview that the expectations suit him just fine, noting: “Competing allows me to share my journey with so many people — those who support and stand by me.”
He is acutely aware of the pressure that’s on him, but takes it all in stride as he says his job is simply to prepare the best he can and perform on the day of the race.
“Just because I go around a race course really fast, they’re all happy for some reason,” he told MS News. “I think it’s really fulfilling and is one of the reasons why I continue competing.”
Maeder has qualified for the final medal race as of the time of writing, with the races set to begin at 9.40pm Singapore time today (8 Aug).
Maeder will enter the final with one race win and will need two more victories to take gold, while the winning semi-finalists need three race wins.
However, his closest competitor Toni Vodisek of Slovenia begins the final with two race wins and will only need one more to take gold.
Singaporeans will find out by Thursday if Maeder can deliver a National Day present — as noted by Mr Fang — and the gold at the Olympics.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from MS News, Olympics, and TODAY.
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