Singapore's 23 athletes are aiming to produce a vintage performance and masterpiece on sports’ biggest stage.
An icon of France, the Eiffel Tower is the perfect backdrop for Paris 2024. A symbol of ambition, resilience and technical know-how, it also embodies the qualities of the athletes at the first post-pandemic Olympics. Team Singapore will field 23 athletes across 11 sports as The Straits Times begins its countdown to the Games today.
Like how the monument was once thought impossible and impractical, there was a time when few Singaporeans dared to dream about making it to the Olympics, let alone win a gold medal. At Rome 1960, lifting iron as the Eiffel Tower workers did, the 1.6m clerk-cum-mechanic defiantly rejected treatment for his aching legs to make a final push in the men’s lightweight event. With an almighty heave in the clean and jerk, he recorded a total of 380kg to claim a silver and Singapore’s first Olympic medal.
Swimmer Joseph Schooling’s parents mortgaged their house, spent $1 million and invested valuable time to support his sporting dreams. A barren Tokyo 2020 was a reminder that Olympic silverware does not come easy, and Team Singapore will try again to mine for medals at Paris 2024 with 23 athletes who have spent years honing their art to produce a vintage performance and masterpiece on sports’ biggest stage.
Sport is their craft and, as we count down to the July 26-Aug 11 Paris Olympics, over the next six days The Straits Times will explore the finer details of Team Singapore’s art and how they tee up for success, kick into gear, and catapult into the final stretch.
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