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The Big Read: Science, support and cash pave athletes’ road to the podium

Netballer Kimberly Lim (with ball) said her sole source of financial help came from the Peter Lim Scholarship and the money helped her hone her focus on matters on the court. Photo: Getty Images

Netballer Kimberly Lim (with ball) said her sole source of financial help came from the Peter Lim Scholarship and the money helped her hone her focus on matters on the court. Photo: Getty Images

Netballer Kimberly Lim (with ball) said her sole source of financial help came from the Peter Lim Scholarship and the money helped her hone her focus on matters on the court. Photo: Getty Images

SINGAPORE — Two years ago, Shanti Pereira was only another name in Singapore’s contingent to the SEA Games in Myanmar, and like many track athletes before her, returned home without a medal. Netball player Kimberly Lim did not even travel — her sport did not feature at the 2013 Games.

When the SEA Games began here earlier this month, they were far from the spotlight, which shone most intensely on Singapore swimming star Joseph Schooling.

But the story of their transformation in the past two weeks from being mere faces in the crowd to winners — as well as stars in their own right — is one of Team Singapore as well. It tells of how a contingent that landed only 108 medals, including 34 golds, at the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar blossomed into an outfit that pulled in a whopping, competition-leading 259 in total.

The 84 golds that were part of the tally got most of the headlines, but the unheralded winners of medals of different hues turned in performances that were no less remarkable, especially considering that many of them landed on the podium from quite literally out of the blue.

On June 7, Lim and Singapore’s national netball team brought the house down at the OCBC Arena Hall 1 as the host nation edged perennial rivals Malaysia for their first SEA Games title.

Three days later, Pereira pulled off a surprise win over favourite Kayla Anise Richardson of the Philippines to win the women’s 200m final at the National Stadium.

It was Singapore’s first win in the event since Glory Barnabas’ triumph in 1973, and the first in any women’s track event at the SEA Games since Chee Swee Lee’s wins in the 400m and 800m at the 1975 edition in Bangkok.

Shanti Pereira’s win in the 200m is the first in a women’s track event since 1975. Photo: Ernest Chua

A measure of how thoroughly Singapore’s athletes obliterated old records is evident in the medal tally: Apart from the 84 golds, Singapore also won 73 silvers and 102 bronzes. The previous high, in 1993, when Singapore also played host to the biennial event, was 50-40-74.

The fact that Singapore picked up medals in events that did not feature at the Myanmar games, such as sailing, shooting and water-skiing, does little to tarnish the record.

So how did Team Singapore make the performance curve an almost vertical one in just 18 months?

Certainly, competing in front of a home crowd is always a plus for any athlete, and the rousing support from most of the 500,000 sports fans who thronged the 31 venues throughout the 19 days of competition was key.

But what really tipped the balance for Singapore was a three-fold strategy, put into place many months ago, that combined intense training, sports science and medicine, and moral support from families, employers and teachers.

These ultimately allowed them to commit fully to the task of plotting victory, without distractions.

Money helped, too, and Singapore splashed the cash. A year before the Games, 255 athletes who were deemed potential medal hopefuls received a total of S$4 million for the “Final Push”, a programme by Sport Singapore aimed at giving them all the help they need for that extra spurt.

They were selected based on their performances in the 2013 Games, and had to commit “to a fully-monitored, full-time training load that is dependent on the sport in which they train in”.

On top of this, the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) disbursed a total of $300,000 to 14 National Sports Associations (NSA), including the Singapore Taekwondo Federation, which eventually won gold medals for the first time since 1999 through Chelsea Sim and Kang Rui Jie in the women’s and men’s poomsae, respectively.

Chelsea Sim (left) and Kang Rui Jie hope their wins will help taekwondo get more support. Photo: Low Wei Xin

Elite athletes, such as Schooling, who won nine golds, did not benefit from these schemes. But another avenue was opened for them: Funding through SportSG’s spexScholarship, which provides a monthly stipend of between S$1,200 and S$8,400.

Other schemes were also on tap. Pereira, for one, was neither a Final Push or spexScholarship participant. She only received SportsSG spexTAG - a training grant to help athletes defray costs such as equipment, apparel, and public transport expenses to and from training venues and meals - benefits.

The only other funding the Republic Polytechnic student has received since 2009 came from the Singapore Sports School, while her other daily needs were taken care of by Singapore Athletics (SA).

Similarly, Lim’s sole source of financial help came from the Peter Lim Scholarship, which helps athletes from financially-challenged families to pursue their sporting dreams.

For the grateful netballer, the money helped hone her focus on matters of the court. “The scholarship was a timely one as it went towards paying for my education. It didn’t help my sports career directly, but it did allow me to be a little at ease so I wouldn’t have to stress too much over my school fees,” she said.

Competing overseas was another factor - pitting themselves against some of the best in Asia and elsewhere gave athletes a vital push, and Pereira and Lim certainly gained from competing overseas.

Said SA president Tang Weng Fei: “Through our annual funding from SportsSG and reserves, we were able to send all our athletes to train and compete overseas. The Taipei Open last month was the last meet before the Games and it helped our athletes, including Shanti, to perform at their peak.”

Netball Singapore used funds from the “Final Push” scheme to pay for an eight-day trip to Fiji, where they played the top-ranked nation and Papua New Guinea as well, said its executive director Cyrus Medora.

“Playing against world-class teams just before a major competition helped the girls tremendously. It also gave our coach, Ruth (Aitken), the opportunity to see which of her players could withstand the pressure of a high intensity match, such as the one in which we won gold over Malaysia,” he added.

The Singapore Netball team celebrates after winning gold in the 28th SEA Games Women Final match against Malaysia at the OCBC Arena Hall 1 on 7Jun 2015. Photo: Ooi Boon Keong/TODAY

But the key weapon for Singapore athletes was the cutting edge supplied by the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI), which leads an intensive programme that helps athletes optimise their performance through science and medical support. During training and at competitions, psychologists are also sent to help them with mental preparation.

At a review of the SEA Games with the media yesterday (June 19), Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong said the programme is a “whole system of high performance sports” preparation for athletes that started a few years ago.

“It is not just for the SEA Games,” said Mr Wong. “We started this three or four years ago and it has been building up, even for the Youth Olympics. It is a system that now has its own resources and capabilities and different technology, and we have been going around to support the different sports.

“The best feedback I got was speaking to the athletes to ask, ‘Does this work for you? Have you seen a difference?’... and it certainly seems to have had an impact.”

The SSI system monitors the entire development of an athlete before, during and after the Games, and one key part of the programme is the athlete’s diet.

Said Lim: “We had individual meet ups with the nutritionist and received feedback on our diet (i.e. what we should eat, optimal amount of food to eat). This allowed me to manage my diet better and helped prepare my body for optimal performance.”

Singapore’s Norizan Mustafa in action for the Women’s Precision Pistol. Photo: Singapore SEA Games Organising Committee/ Action Images via Reuters

Pereira said her journey to gold took six years and would not have been possible without her parents’ support.

“Their support was important, and like all parents, they also wanted me to have a good education,” said the former Katong Convent student. “But they have never stopped me from running and this helped me to focus on my training. I want to have a degree as well, and I am balancing both sports and studies without any problems.”

Employers also played an important role for athletes. Squash player Marcus Phua was able to get six months off from his post as senior audit associate at KPMG, before winning gold in the men’s jumbo doubles with team-mate Vivian Rhamanan.

“When I found out that squash was included in this year’s SEA Games, I decided to put my career on hold to train full time and if I was able to get any kind of financial assistance, that would have been a bonus,” said Mr Phua, 26.

“Fortunately, my company was willing to support me, and working together with Sport Singapore, I received three months’ full-pay leave. Money is one thing, but putting my career on hold was another consideration and I am glad everyone’s been very supportive.”

Best friends Marcus Phua (left) and Vivian Rhamanan clinched Singapore’s 83rd gold medal with victory in the men's jumbo doubles. Photo: Wee Teck Hian

At the closing ceremony on Tuesday, SNOC president Tan Chuan-Jin said a review will be carried out to see what contributed to Singapore’s success and how to take it forward for future major Games.

At the core of that move forward is SSI, which Sport SG chief executive officer Lim Teck Yin said yesterday must keep abreast with the latest know-how and technologies.

“The SSI must maintain a strong core of high-level and world-class expertise to know what is at the cutting edge of sports science that exists in the world,” said Mr Lim. “That’s the next phase of development for the Sports Institute in collaboration with the Sports School, which is also reviewing its sports science support to youth athletes.

“Going forward, I think we can all look quite optimistically at being able to achieve a much high level of sophistication in working with our national sports associations.”

Besides working closely with the swimmers, Lopez hopes to conduct seminars and workshops to raise the standard of the coaching community here. Photo: DON WONG

Another key area is to keep young talents pursuing sports and competing at a high level. Many are lost in the battle between sports and studies, but for Mr Sergio Lopez, head coach of Singapore’s national swimming team, he believes it’s all about mindsets.

It is a philosophy that Schooling’s former coach has been drumming into his charges since his appointment in January this year which saw the swim team net a record haul of 23 golds, 12 silvers, and seven bronzes at the 2015 SEA Games, ahead of sailing (10-7-1) and canoeing (7-5-0) among Singapore’s three best performing sports.

“By no means are we near to balancing both studies and swimming. But they are starting to ask the right questions because in the past there was a thinking that they couldn’t do anything else,” said the Spaniard, a bronze medallist at the 1988 Olympic Games.

“The reality is that a kid doesn’t study for eight hours a day. They need to maximize their time, and understand that yes, they have exams, ‘but maybe I should return to practice, too, and have this discussion with my coach’ and don’t just disappear from practice for three weeks.

“Being part of the national team is not a right, but a privilege. You got a choice of choosing to be part of the team, and with freedom, comes responsibility. It is very important for them to understand this.” ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LOW LIN FHOONG, ADELENE WONG, NOAH TAN AND SHANJAYAN MUNIAPPAN

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