Athlete, a normal human being
Till today, Singapore has won 5 medals in history (including Rio Olympic 2016) . When Singapore finally won our first gold medal in Rio Olympic 2016, everyone in Singapore was cheering for our first Olympic gold medal won by Joseph Schooling. And then…. Joseph Schooling did not make into semi-finals.
Like the rest of Singaporeans, I was disappointed. While I was still in midst of my disappointment, there was memes and negative comments surfacing. I do understand the frustration but some comments were hurtful and unnecessary.
“You should not be competing if you know you going to get last place”
That was one of negative comments I saw on social media. It is easy to be an online keyboard warrior to make such comments. However, we often forgot how much effort and determination these athletes make to get to Olympic.
I have recently came across a local digital video publisher about interviewing athletics to qualify for Olympic:
This video really got me thinking, how many athletes tried their very best but they could not qualify for Olympic and due to various factors have to move on?
To be able to represent our country and participant in the event, which athlete’s mindset is not to win a medal?
I remembered watching a variety show where one of the former athletes said stress level will still continue even after winning Olympic medal. Soon after celebration, the stress cycle starts to kick in. Everyone will be judging based on your Olympic performance. If you perform well, people will think is expected. If you underperform, there is little encouragement and more criticism.
“Why bother competing if you know you are going to get last place ?”, someone commented. Isn’t sportsmanship spirit never giving up ? They didn’t give up so why are we as an outsider giving up on them ?
Joseph Schooling may have finished last in heats, I am proud of him representing Singapore to participate in an international event.
At the end of the day, athlete are just like us, a normal human being who has highs and lows.
