SINGAPORE — Roland Schoeman remembers racing in Singapore in the Fina Swimming World Cup when it was staged at the Singapore Sports School, some five years ago.

The prestigious meet has since been held at the Singapore Sports Hub’s OCBC Aquatic Centre after the facility opened in 2014 and Schoeman, a former Olympic and world champion, believes that this investment in infrastructure by the authorities is one of the many things that Singapore swimming is doing right.

The South African, who has been conducting coaching clinics here for national swimmers for the last two weeks, has high praise for how the local set-up has evolved over the years.

“To see the development that took place with the OCBC Arena and the Aquatic Centre, it’s amazing,” he told TODAY yesterday. “First and foremost, (you need) the insight before finding the financial backing to make something like this a reality. To me, Singapore swimming has evolved incredibly and to see the desire to help the athletes perform, to give them a facility like this and the support staff they need to be better ... I wish I had that.”

Schoeman also hailed the unity and desire of the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) to build on the momentum generated by Joseph Schooling’s historic Olympic triumph in Rio last year, noting the work done by National Training Centre head coach Gary Tan and technical director Sonya Porter.

“To see Gary and Sonya putting the systems in place here, how dedicated and committed they are. Just speaking to them, you can see their desire is to get other professionals in here, coaches and athletes, people who can share their knowledge, and help the athletes get better,” said the 36-year-old, who is taking a break and working as a swimming consultant.

When asked what he meant when he said “I wish I had that”, the evergreen Schoeman explained how his country’s own swimming body — Swimming South Africa — failed to capitalise on the opportunity to build on a breakthrough Olympic success in 2004. That was the first time that South African male swimmers won an Olympic gold, thanks to the 4x100m freestyle relay team, of which Schoeman was a member.

“We don’t have a facility like this in the country,” he said. “My federation does not support the athletes. The investment we had in swimming was awful. (In fact), we didn’t have any.

“From the day we succeeded, I’ve been saying to my federation, let me help you, and be a part of this … how could you not have used the opportunity to build something?”

Schoeman also described the SSA’s capture of Stephan Widmer as national head coach role as a coup.

“He has coached some of the world’s greatest, like Libby Trickett, one of the world’s top 50m and 100m freestylers,” he said. “His knowledge of how bodies, systems and athletes work, there are very few people in the world with his knowledge. He’s an amazing catch and that just proves the position Singapore swimming is in — (always) wanting to improve, leaving no stone unturned in the quest to get better.”