However you won’t find too many Singaporeans celebrating in
the streets. Most Singaporeans are indifferent to the medal and according to a
local poll on Yahoo!, a whopping 77% said that they are proud of the Olympic
medal.
Now some people are wondering why this is the case. I mean
an Olympic medal for the country is an Olympic medal for the country, no matter
where the athlete was born right? So why aren’t the people of Singapore proud
of it?
In one word; embarrassment!
For years, the Singapore
table tennis team has been called the China B Team; Singaporeans has been
mocked that our medals are made in China;
Singapore
has been told that we should thank the Embassy of China for winning us our sporting
titles (swimming, table tennis, badminton etc).
Now Singapore
is a small island and if there’s one thing Singaporeans don’t like, it is been
laughed at. Worse is when the guy laughing at you is telling the truth. It’s no
secret Singapore has been
importing athletes into Singapore
for sporting glory; to their credit the Singapore Table-Tennis Association has
been very open about it.
All credit to Feng Tianwei for winning the bronze. It’s a
great achievement and I believe it is something to be proud of but I am also
realistic. I don’t expect Singaporeans to be jumping for joy for her when she
returns from London.
We are too embarrassed to be caught celebrating.
8 comments:
Spot on!! And it embarasses me furher to see the length in which the ST tries to drum up support for the win, conveying the impression that many people are happy with it, the dissenting ones are the minority and the ones with the "problem". Sheesh... !!!!
Contrast that with the pride I (as a Singaporean who's just a neighbor of Malaysia) feel about the Silver medeal the Malaysian guy won in yesterday's singles badminton.
One sentence that sums it all:
China 1 Singapore 0
Kaffein
PS. I cheered for the Malaysian guy Lee in badminton. I would have been so proud if I was a Malaysian.
And they say we have no pride in our country...
I hope you were embarrassed when Singapore won the ASEAN cup for soccer too. I hope the angmos import did not make any different in your embarrassment.
I didn't know Singapore won ASEAN cup for soccer with an entire team of angmo imports.
I rest my case. Hypocrites!
Yes I was ad I wasn't the only one. You don't see too many Singaporeans saying we are the best in South-East Asia, do you? Even back then when we won. Almost our entire midfield and attack were imported so most Singaporeans have mor sense than that.
Still I do believe a bronze in the Olympics is something to be proud of. Ms. Feng should be proud of it; tt's just that Ms. Feng should not expect Singaporeans to share in the joy as much as her. If she do, she is going to be disappointed.
How to feel proud about a medal won by a foreign import? At least during the Malaysia Cup, most of the players were locals.
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