SportSG welcomes Schooling’s feedback on support system

SINGAPORE — A day after national swimmer Joseph Schooling delivered a sobering critique of Singapore’s athlete support system, national governing body Sport Singapore said yesterday that it welcomes feedback and ideas from the Olympic gold medallist.

Speaking to TODAY on the sidelines of a cocktail reception hosted for Team Singapore’s Olympians and Paralympians by the Ambassador of Brazil Flavio S Damico, Sport Singapore chief executive officer Lim Teck Yin said: “Joseph mentioned that he would like to engage us, we are very open to hearing his ideas and sharing with him some perspectives that he may not have.

“He is one of our Team Singapore athletes, and we want to get him to feel comfortable that we’re backing him. He feels what he feels, the main point is that we want to engage and be open to all our national athletes.”

On Tuesday, the University of Texas undergraduate — who is back in town for a week of fundraising activities, charity events and book signings — told local media that more needed to be done to beef up Singapore’s support system for athletes, particularly in the areas of financial support and sports science.

Schooling, whose parents had to fork out more than US$1 million (S$1.43 million) for his studies and training in the United States, said that better support should be given to athletes who were “serious and competitive enough to change their lifestyle drastically to try and bring glory and honour to our country”.

The butterfly specialist, however, acknowledged that his work with the staff from the Singapore Sports Institute had contributed significantly to his success in Rio.

Lim said yesterday that Singapore’s support system is “always a work in progress”, as he added: “With competition it is never static, we brought analytic capability this time round, and it can get better as every country is competing (with us).

“We are at the situation where we have to attempt to be sharper with our support, as it is this support that will make the difference, and give us an edge.”

Yesterday’s cocktail reception was attended by a number of Team Singapore’s athletes, including Paralympics triple-gold medallist Yip Pin Xiu, bronze medallist Theresa Goh, and Schooling, whose appearance sparked off yet another round of selfies and photo requests.

Congratulating Team Singapore on a landmark performance in Brazil, Ambassador Damico said yesterday: “I’m sure that these Games will be memorable forever, and definitely much more for Singapore. We had the opportunity to listen to your beautiful anthem, Majulah Singapura, three times.

“The Olympics had some difficult times ... but I’m sure we will see prosperity and growth.” LOW LIN FHOONG