Welcome Address by President Halimah Yacob at Dinner Reception for Team Singapore Contingents

Mr Tan Chuan-Jin

Speaker of Parliament and President, Singapore National Olympic Council

Members of the Singapore National Olympic Council, Singapore National Paralympic Council, Sport Singapore, and the Singapore Sport Institute

Team Singapore athletes, Care-givers, Coaches and Officials

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good evening

I am delighted to host this reception for the Team Singapore contingents who represented Singapore at the five overseas major games last year. 

2018 was certainly a busy year for Team Singapore.  Our athletes competed in:

• The 23^rd Winter Olympic Games in February;

• The 21^st Commonwealth Games in April;

• The 18^th Asian Games which took place in August and September;

• The 3^rd Asian Para Games in October; and

• The 3^rd Summer Youth Olympic Games, also held in October.

At each of these games, you attained many personal bests and collectively achieved several milestones for Singapore.  Last year marked the first time Singapore participated in the Winter Olympic Games, with speed skater Cheyenne Goh taking part in the short-track 1500m event.  Our Asian Para Games contingent did us proud with their best ever medal showing of three Golds, two Silvers and five Bronzes.  Team Singapore athletes also gave inspiring performances at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Youth Olympics.  My warmest congratulations to every one of you for your outstanding performance. I would like to ask everyone here to give all of our Team Singapore athletes a big round of applause – thank you for flying the Singapore flag high!

What is even more heartening is that almost two-third of the 386 Team Singapore contingent members fielded last year were debutants in the respective Games. In particular, debutants made up three-quarters of the Team Singapore contingent at the Asian Games, and also contributed close to 70% of the medals won.  Our young athletes have demonstrated good potential at last year’s games, and I am confident this is an indication that we can expect greater achievements from them in the future. 

Our Team Singapore fencers – Amita Berthier, Maxine Wong, Melanie Huang and Tatiana Wong – clinched the bronze medal in the women’s foil team event at the Asian Games.  Earlier this month, Amita, Maxine and Tatiana were also part of the team that won the Gold in the women’s junior foil team event at the Asian Championships in Jordan. Tracking a similar pattern, our silat athletes went from two silvers and three bronzes at the Asian Games, to a record showing of seven Golds at the 18^th World Pencak Silat Championships last December. 

These are remarkable achievements, which were made possible because of the years of commitment, hard work and dedication that have gone into training toward sporting perfection.  I had the opportunity to observe our boccia athletes Toh Sze Ning and Faye Lim in one of their training sessions leading up to the Asian Para Games last year, and I saw for myself the intense planning and concentration that goes into each throw of the ball.  I am happy that the team subsequently won the silver medal at the Asian Para Games.  

I would like to also commend Bowler Rex Tan’s dedication and resilience, as his journey in the lead-up to the Asian Para Games was a challenging one. Rex had a serious accident just four months before the Games, fracturing his ribs, fingers and shoulder.  However, he fought through the pain, adapted his swing, and ultimately won a bronze at the games. 

Beyond the medal achievements, Team Singapore has inspired us with your perseverance and fighting spirit.  I would like to take this opportunity to recognise the efforts of the people behind the scenes, the “team behind the team”, who work tirelessly to support our athletes in their training and development.  This includes the coaches, sports specialists, officials, care-givers, families, mentors and many others.  Thank you for the important roles you play in nurturing and developing our athletes – they would not be here without your support.

Even as we celebrate our successes in 2018 this evening, many of our athletes are already in the thick of preparations for the upcoming competitions – the 30^th Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines at the end of the year, followed by the 10^th ASEAN Para Games, and then 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

I am happy to note that Sport Singapore and the Singapore Sports Institute will continue to work closely with key stakeholders including the Singapore National Olympic Council, Singapore National Paralympic Council, the National Sports Associations, as well as corporate sponsors to provide Team Singapore athletes with well-rounded support that are crucial to their development. This includes coaching and sports science expertise, quality daily training environment, as well as opportunities for overseas training and competition exposure.  Campaign funding is also rolled out to support our athletes, who are training full-time for the major games.

Once again, on behalf of all Singaporeans, I would like to wish our athletes all the best in your preparations in the Games ahead. I am confident that Team Singapore will continue to achieve sporting excellence.  We will continue to cheer for you together as One Team Singapore.

Thank you.