Singapore’s president defends Joseph Schooling amid scorn over Tokyo Olympics performance
- The swimmer won Singapore’s first Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro but failed to qualify in the same event in Tokyo, prompting online mockery
- President Halimah Yacob and a number of other politicians defended him, with Schooling telling local media he was moved by the support
“I feel sad looking at how unkind we can be towards each other. One moment, we carry people to the highest pedestal with our words, yet the next moment we thrash them to the ground just because they fail to live up to our expectations,” Halimah wrote in a Facebook post on Friday.
Halimah pointed to how recent sporting events have demonstrated this. When the England national football team lost to Italy in the Euro 2020 championship earlier this month, hateful and racist comments were hurled against three players of colour.
When Schooling finished last in his heat on Thursday, “that was the start of negative, hurtful comments against him”, said Halimah. “We forgot that he had helped us to win an Olympic gold medal and brought glory to our own sports history.”
Halimah stressed that the Olympic Games were not a “walk in the park” and athletes were competing against the world’s best. “The least that we can do is to appreciate their effort and continue to encourage and support them,” she said. “So let’s be kind. Support our athletes wholeheartedly. They are doing their best.”