National Day Awards for swimmers Schooling, Goh

SINGAPORE — They made a huge splash in the swimming pool in Rio in August, winning honours for Singapore at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. For their respective achievements in Brazil, national swimmers Joseph Schooling and Theresa Goh will be earning a special accolade — the duo will receive National Day Awards next month.

The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) announced on Friday (Oct 7) that Olympic men’s 100m butterfly champion Schooling will receive the Meritorious Service Medal (Pingat Jasa Gemilang), while Goh, a bronze medallist in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB4, will receive the Public Service Star (Bintang Bakti Masyarakat). The awards will be presented to recipients at the National Day Awards Investiture by President Tony Tan on Nov 6. 

This is the first award for the United States-based Schooling, who clocked a spectacular Olympic record time of 50.39sec to beat the likes of American legend Michael Phelps and South Africa’s Chad le Clos, and bag Singapore’s first-ever Olympic gold medal. 

Schooling’s triumph also sparked off wild celebrations back home, with thousands turning out to cheer on the swimmer during his post-Olympics victory parade. 

The 21-year-old will join the likes of former Meritorious Service Medal awardees including 1960 Olympic silver medallist Tan Howe Liang (weightlifting), ex-national swimmer Joscelin Yeo, Olympic medallists Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu and Feng Tianwei (table tennis), and Paralympics triple-gold medallist Yip Pin Xiu. 

“It is a great honour to receive this award,” said Schooling in a statement. 

“My Olympic gold medal is the culmination of not only my hard work all these years, but also the strong support from my family and friends, partners and the sports fraternity in Singapore. It is an achievement that everyone shares a part of. This award recognition motivates me to keep working hard and I will continue to do my best to fly our Singapore flag high on the world stage.”

While the University of Texas undergraduate will not be in town for the National Day Awards Investiture, Schooling’s representatives said that they are looking into options for him to receive his award.

National para-swimmer Goh, who is currently on holiday in the United Kingdom with Yip, was delighted to hear the news. 

This is the second National Day Award for the 29-year-old, who was conferred the Public Service Medal in 2008 for her outstanding performances in various championships in 2006 and 2007.

“This will be a part of the big celebration carried on from Rio,” Goh told TODAY. “Pin Xiu is really happy for me, we are both enjoying our downtime and are really grateful for all the support and recognition we have been receiving.”