Let’s bring home some gold.
Originally scheduled to take place last summer, for the first time in history, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was postponed to 2021 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Though, we are excited to see the events taking place right now, which began on July 23 and run until August 8. Excitingly, Singapore has 23 athletes competing across 12 sports, so anything could happen. In honour of the games, we asked our social media audience to tell us their thoughts on what they believe Singapore could win gold in. Here are the phenomenal responses below.
1. Swimming
We don’t blame the whopping 60% of you that declared Singapore will win gold in swimming because Singapore has plenty of strong and young contenders representing. For instance, Joseph Schooling (26) is competing again in the Men’s 100m Freestyle and 100m Butterfly, this comes after his historic win at the 2016 games, where he proudly brought home Singapore’s first-ever gold, after breaking records with a 50.39 seconds swim. Meanwhile, University of California student, Quah Zheng Wen (24) will represent Singapore in the Men’s 100m Backstroke, 100m Butterfly and 200m Butterfly, along with his sister, an SEA Games champion, Ting Wen (28) who will swim the Women’s 50m and 100m Freestyle. Additionally, Chantel Liew (22) is the first Singaporean to ever qualify for a marathon swim at the Olympics, and will fight for gold in the Women’s 10km Marathon Swim.
2. Nothing
Shockingly, many Singaporeans believe that Singapore will win nothing. Indeed, 20% of our social media followers affirmed that they have no hope for the Singapore team at all. Come on guys, a little faith in your home country?
3. Table Tennis
Amazingly, 8% of you believe that gold could be won in Table Tennis. On the women’s team, we’ve got the world’s ninth greatest player, Feng Tianwei (34), who is no stranger to the Olympic Games, competing for a fourth time in the Women’s Singles. Similarly, multi-medalist Yu Mengyu (31) will take part in the Women’s Singles, and the youngest member of the team, Lin Ye (25), a newbie at the Tokyo Olympics will also represent Singapore. Subsequently, 10-time SEA Games medalist, Clarence Chew (25) will represent Singapore in the Men’s Singles.
5. Athletics
Representing Singapore in the Women’s 200m, Shanti Pereira (24) has the potential to bring home some gold. Well, that is according to 5% of our audience. The wildcard entry is no stranger to fierce competitions after running the 2015 SEA Games, where she won Singapore’s first gold sprint in 42 years.
5. Fencing
Fencing made the list of our responses with 2% of our audience believing three-time gold SEA Games medalist, Amita Berthier (20) could bring home the gold to Singapore. She is the first Singaporean fencer to make it to the Olympics. However, we are not surprised with her former and historic 2017 title of the Junior World’s Number 1 Fencer.
6. Comedy
Some Singaporeans thought this a great time to take the mick with 5% of our audience sending in answers such as Singapore would win gold in eating, shopping, complaining, obeying rules and getting offended. We must admit, it did give us a giggle.
For a full list of athletes representing Singapore in the 2020 Olympics, visit the Tokyo 2020 Olympics website.