After historic Olympic gold, Singapore sports gets S$100 million boost
A sum of S$50 million will be invested over the next five years to provide greater support to the Republic’s elite athletes like Olympic swimming champion Joseph Schooling. Photo: Getty Images
SINGAPORE – Following a landmark 2016 for Singapore sports which saw swimmer Joseph Schooling winning the Republic's first-ever Olympics gold, the Government will be injecting an additional S$100 million to build on the winning momentum generated by this milestone triumph.
Speaking in Parliament on Thursday (March 9), Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu said Sport Singapore’s (SportSG) High Performance Sports (HPS) system will be enhanced in order to help Team Singapore’s athletes achieve a consistently strong showing at the SEA Games by 2030, while producing champions at the Asian, world and Olympic levels.
To achieve that goal, S$50 million will be invested over the next five years to provide greater support to the Republic’s elite athletes. Improvements will be made in three key areas: capability and capacity of coaching, technical, and high performance personnel; opportunities for national athletes to benefit from overseas training and competition stints, and improved training environments; as well as higher campaign funding for non-SpexScholars who have the potential to do well at major Games.
“In 2016, one defining moment took place at 9.12am on the morning of 13 Aug. For the first time, we heard Majulah Singapura being played at the Olympics. Singaporeans celebrated wildly. Thousands lined the street to welcome Joseph Schooling home and congratulate him – regardless of race, language or religion," said Ms Fu.
“We want to sustain a strong showing at the SEA Games and ASEAN Para Games, and continue to nurture champions at the Asian and world levels.”
Ms Fu noted that producing champions like Schooling, and Paralympian swimmers Yip Pin Xiu and Theresa Goh, who won two golds and a bronze respectively at the Rio Paralympics, requires long-term commitment from the athlete, coaches, support staff. and the various sports bodies.
“To groom that athlete into a world champion, we need great coaches supported by deep sports science and sports medicine capabilities," she said. "Growing our pipeline of talent and grooming them for podium success requires long-term athlete development plans and the resources and technical expertise to create a high performance training and competition environment.”
As part of the MCCY and SportSG’s drive to get Singaporeans and corporations to support Team Singapore’s athletes, an additional S$50 million will also be made available via the ‘One Team Singapore matching grant’ which will see the Government matching donations – by up to S$50 million – from the community and corporates to the Vision 2030 fund.
