Speech by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the Team Singapore Post-Olympics Reception on 18 October 2024

1.  A very warm welcome to our Team Singapore athletes who have represented us at Paris 2024 for the Olympics and Paralympics Games.

2. To each and every one of you; thank you. Your dedication, guts, and sporting excellence have inspired us all in Singapore.

   1.  Qualifying for the Olympics and Paralympics was already an extraordinary achievement. Not to mention getting beyond the opening round, and into the semi-finals or finals.

   2.  The TeamSG contingent has shown that a small nation like Singapore is able to stand with and compete with the best in the world. Thank you for flying our flag high.

3. To each and every one of you; thank you. Your dedication, guts, and sporting excellence have inspired us all in Singapore.

   1. Pin Xiu wrote a new chapter in our sporting history with a remarkable ‘three-peat’ of double Golds. This is her 5th Paralympic Games, but she continues to astound.

4. And to our youngest Olympic medalist at 17, Maximilian Maeder – thank you not only for teaching all of us what kitefoiling is about, but for inspiring a new generation of athletes – to be fearless, and to push the boundaries.

5. It is no wonder that thousands had gathered to cheer on Team Singapore as the open-top bus parade weaved through the streets. Even those on the roads honked their horns, and people rolled down their car windows to wave - thankfully, without accidents.

Lessons that our Olympians and Paralympians have taught us

6. This has not only been about the success that we’ve achieved. It has been about the mental toughness that each of you has shown, that gives all of us lessons: on how to do our very best even against the odds.

   1.  After missing out on the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020, Gan Ching Hwee clocked her best times at Paris 2024, setting two new national records and personal bests in the 1500m and 800m freestyle. An impressive Olympic debut.

7. While we shared in the disappointment that some of you had when you did not advance even further, we also applaud you.

   1.  Loh Kean Yew is the first Singaporean in 20 years to have reached the badminton Quarter Finals, having defeated China’s World No. 6 Li Shi Feng. Though he did not get a medal, his performance remains etched in our minds.

   2.  Our shuttlers Terry Hee and Jessica Tan, and paddlers Izaac Quek, Zeng Jian and Zhou Jing Yi, and fencers Amita Berthier and Kiria Tikanah Abdul Rahman inspired us with their ‘never-say-die’ attitude. And shooter Daniel Chan displayed resilience and delivered a strong comeback performance, narrowly missing the finals by just one point. They gave their all and remained unfazed by stronger opponents. They will surely come up stronger in the years ahead.

8.  With each Games, our athletes have helped us to expand our imagination on what we can accomplish as a country.

   1.  At 35, debutant Jeralyn Tan made history by winning our first boccia medal, the Paralympics sport. Jeralyn clinched the silver in Paris after 16 years in the sport. She is Singapore’s fourth Paralympic medallist after swimmers Yip Pin Xiu, Theresa Goh and equestrian Laurentia Tan. Kudos too to Jeralyn’s coach, Yurnita Omar, for her dedication.

It takes a village to raise an athlete

9. The success of Team Singapore at Paris 2024 was collective. It has taken a village of dedicated coaches, sports science and medicine teams, administrators and secretariats, and volunteers.

10.  Credit must also go to the caregivers, friends and family members of our para-athletes and athletes, many of whom made personal, professional and financial sacrifices to enable our athletes to get this far. Their support has been the quiet strength that sustained our athletes, through every challenge, every setback and every triumph.

    1.  In Pin Xiu’s words: “I think a lot of people believed that I could do it more than I believed in myself.”

11. I encourage our corporates especially to join this effort, be part of the village and help elevate Singapore’s sporting scene. You can, for example, donate to the One Team Singapore Fund or to the National Sports Associations.

12. Many of our athletes are already setting their sights on Los Angeles 2028.

    1.  Max Maeder is already back in action and has been in stellar form, most recently winning the open event in the Formula Kite Youth European Championships on 13 October.

    2.  Many are back in the full swing of training. Our shuttlers Yeo Jia Min, Loh Kean Yew, Terry Hee and Jessica Tan just completed the China Open 2024 and Hong Kong Open 2024 in September, with at least two more competitions at the Finland Artic Open and Denmark Open scheduled this month. Jeralyn Tan is also gearing up for the Manama 2024 World Boccia Challenger Bahrain in November

13. Singaporeans will continue to follow our athletes on their sporting journeys. To not only celebrate their wins, but to spur them on even when they don’t.

14. Sports, much like life, doesn’t always go as planned – there are moments when you put in years of hard work, only to have something crop up, something that keeps you from doing as well as you hoped. But also moments when you take the competition by surprise and win.

15. So we celebrate that spirit that takes us through the ups and downs. And knowing that it is the downs that make the ups all the more meaningful, both for each of you and for the nation.