SINGAPORE — Marathoner Soh Rui Yong has apologised again to the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC), this time for what he wrote in 2019 that suggested the council comprised "clowns". The blog post of that has since been taken down.

In a letter to SNOC, which he posted on Facebook and sent to the media on Thursday (Oct 6), Soh unreservedly apologised to the council for any past statements that had cast doubt on the its propriety.

“In hindsight, the use of the word ‘clowns’ was unnecessary. I am sorry. The blog post has been taken down and I undertake not to use the term ‘clowns’ on SNOC again,” he wrote.

“After a few years of disagreements with SNOC since April 2019, I wish to put the past behind, so that I can focus on my running and contributing in any way I can to Singapore sports,” he added.

He also apologised for any past statements about his exclusion from past Southeast Asian (SEA) Games that “may be construed as disparaging” to the council.

“I hope to race for Singapore again if selected and fly the Singapore flag high,” the two-time SEA Games champion wrote.

Apart from the blog post, he has taken down all his online posts from April 2019 that may have been seen as disparaging to SNOC, in accordance to the council’s request, he added.

Soh said that his apology letter was supported by the Singapore Athletics — the national sports association that unsuccessfully nominated him for the SEA Games in 2019 and this year.

Soh emailed several news publications on Thursday, including TODAY, asking them to remove the articles that reported on such statements from him. TODAY is not acceding to the request.

In February, Soh already apologised to SNOC. This was after it was announced that he would be excluded from the Singapore team for the Hanoi SEA Games in May despite qualifying with a new national record time.

It was the second consecutive time the controversial athlete was not selected for the SEA Games.

SNOC told TODAY then that Soh’s conduct and behaviour was “unbecoming” of an athlete who wishes to represent his country at major games and runs contrary to the requirement of the Olympic Charter to “serve as an example to the sporting youth”.

In 2019, it rejected Soh’s SEA Games nomination after finding that his attitude and behaviour fell short of its standards.

The council has not been in contact with Soh since his first apology, but it had some discussions with the Singapore Athletics association, Soh told TODAY on Thursday.

After Soh's first apology, SNOC told news channel CNA that it noted the marathoner's apology and hoped that "he fulfils what he sets out to do, and wish him well in his future endeavours".

TODAY has reached out to Singapore Athletics and SNOC for comment.

Soh’s clash with SNOC began in 2017 at the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, when he was warned and threatened with expulsion from the team for repeatedly flouting the council’s rules on promoting personal sponsors on social media. 

The next year, Soh became embroiled in a dispute over an act of sportsmanship purportedly shown by another marathoner Ashley Liew, when Liew slowed down at the SEA Games men’s marathon final in 2015 in Singapore to allow other runners who ran off course to catch up.

Liew later received a special award for sportsmanship by SNOC and was also awarded the Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Trophy by the International Fair Play Committee.

Soh’s dispute with Liew was brought to court and Liew was awarded S$180,000 in damages last year after winning the defamation suit. Soh is appealing against the decision.

In June this year, Soh failed in a separate defamation suit against Mr Syed Abdul Malik Aljunied, former executive director of Singapore Athletics, over statements that Mr Malik made on Facebook after Soh was rejected for the 2019 SEA Games.