On 2 April 2024, Joseph Schooling, the first and only Singapore Olympian to win a gold medal at the Games, announced his retirement from competitive swimming.
While he flew higher than ever before thanks to his historic win at the men’s 100m butterfly final in Rio 2016, he is but one of many athletes in Singapore to have invested time, resources and energy in the quest for national sporting glory.
Some have passed on their knowledge and training techniques to the next generation, either as a coach for the national team or via their own sporting organisations.
Others still bring their indomitable spirit to the outside world, fronting their own businesses outside of the world of sport.
Read on for a list of the most inspiring Singapore Olympians in our country’s 58-year history.
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Lloyd Oscar Valberg – Athletics, London 1948
High jumper Lloyd Oscar Valberg is the first Singaporean to represent the country at the Olympic Games. Hailing from the sporting Eurasian Valberg family, he was Singapore’s sole representative at the 1948 London Olympic Games.
The decorated firefighter who was also an accomplished hurdler and triple jumper, finished in 14th place with a jump of 1.87m. He went on to captain his own athletics club, while continuing his sporting career by chalking up medals in other athletics events at the regional level, including a bronze medal in the hurdles event at the inaugural Asian Games in 1951.
His legacy came full circle in 2016, when his grandnephew – no other than Joseph Schooling – won Singapore’s first-ever Olympic gold medal, with the champion citing the late Valberg as one of his inspirations.
Tang Pui Wah – Athletics, Helsinki 1952
At the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland, Tang Pui Wah became the first female athlete to don her cleats and pound the track in search of a medal for Singapore.
The 19-year-old didn’t make it past the heats, but earned the nickname The Helsinki Girl, leading the charge for Singaporean women down the line.
She ended her athletics career in 1956, having accrued numerous medals at the regional level, including a bronze in the 80m hurdles at the 1954 Asian Games in Manila. She is now 91.
Tan Howe Liang – Weightlifting, Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960, Tokyo 1964
The 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, saw the rise of a Singaporean Olympic legend – Tan Howe Liang, a weightlifter who, even before having to hoist hundreds of kilograms above his head, had to contend with the financial difficulties of funding a sporting career.
He often trained without a coach, and had to borrow money to fund his dreams – but that didn’t stop him from eventually winning a silver medal during his second go-around at the 1960 Olympic Games.
It wasn’t easy – Howe Liang almost had to bow out due to pain in his legs, but persevered to set an Olympic record of 155kg in the clean and jerk event for the lightweight division.
He failed to make the podium in the 1964 Olympiad. Even so, his remarkable achievement at the world stage etched the now-90-year-old’s name into the hall of fame, as he became the only Singaporean to win at all major international games, including the SEAP Games (the predecessor to the SEA Games), the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games – a feat that went unmatched for 48 years, until it was broken by Feng Tianwei.
Canagasabai Kunalan – Athletics; Tokyo 1964, Melbourne 1968
Canagasabai, better known as C Kunalan, is widely regarded as one of the nation’s greatest athletes. Now 82, the sprint king turned heads on and off the track with his blistering speed, setting a national record of 10.38s at the 1968 Olympic Games in Melbourne, for the 100m event, a record that for 33 years.
The two-time Sportsman of the Year – consecutively awarded in 1968 and 1969 – accrued five medals at the Asian Games, and a further 15 at the SEAP Games before his retirement in 1979, where he went on to become an educator, vice principal with the Singapore Athletic Association, and member of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee.
Ang Peng Siong – Swimming; Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988
It was only natural that Ang Peng Siong – son to Singapore Olympian and judoka Ang Teck Bee – would follow in his father’s sporting footsteps, even if he traded up the grappler’s gi for a swim cap and Speedos.
While he didn’t make podium, Peng Siong splashed into the B finals – in other words, the 16 fastest swimmers – for both the 100m freestyle event in the 1984 Los Angeles games and the 50m event in Seoul four years later.
The swimmer left the water with eight Southeast Asian golds from 1983 to 1993, though he continued to guide from the sidelines – both as a coach for the Singapore national team, and with his self-started APS Swim School.
Syed Abdul Kadir – Boxing, Munich 1972
1972 saw the first and only appearance of a Singaporean boxing champ, to date, at the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. Syed Abdul Kadir managed to fend off his Italian opponent in the first round of his light flyweight bout, before succumbing to a cut to the eyebrow in round three.
The 76-year-old nevertheless holds the inimitable spot as Singapore’s only boxing representative at the Olympics since its independence, with gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games and Commonwealth Games to his name. The boxing legend went on to coach the national team, while also running his own boxing school.
James Wong – Fencing; Barcelona 1992
Singapore Olympian James Wong recently passed away in early April at the age of 70. He represented the country at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona for the men’s foil and epee events, dropping out in the first and second rounds, respectively.
His legacy, however, was never about the medals he earned (though he snagged two silvers at the SEA Games in 1989 and 1993), as he went on to become national coach for Singapore’s next generation of fencers, the vice president of the Singapore Fencing Association, and the owner of his own fencing school, ZFencing.
Feng Tianwei – Table Tennis; Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio De Janeiro 2016, Tokyo 2020
Feng Tianwei was an integral part of the women’s table tennis team that managed to break Singapore’s 48-year medal drought when it earned a joint silver medal during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
She went on to clinch two bronze medals — solo and team — in the next Olympic Games.
She went on to win three gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and emerged champion at the 2015 Asian Cup.
Joscelin Yeo – Swimming; Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004
Swim queen Joscelin Yeo is Singapore’s most prolific female swimming athlete, bar none, having participated in four consecutive Olympic Games across 19 separate races.
If that wasn’t impressive enough, the Singapore Olympian also counts 45 medals to her name in the Southeast Asian Games from 1993 to 2005 – just two silvers, and three bronzes in her haul — making her the most decorated, gold-medal-winning athlete of the Games.
Accolades aside, she also managed to break a number of national records during her long swimming career, including the 200m individual medley and the 100m freestyle, when she became the first Singaporean female swimmer to complete the century in under a minute. Joscelin, 45 now runs a swim school, having served as a non-elected Member of Parliament (NCMP) for two years, from 2009.
Joseph Schooling – Swimming; London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016, Tokyo 2020
The title of Singapore’s first and only Olympic gold medallist goes to Joseph Schooling, who bested his childhood idol Michael Phelps – himself the most decorated Olympian of all time – at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Before that, the butterfly specialist was making his presence felt at the regional level, racking up medals at the preceding Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and the World Championships. In all, he’s amassed 17 gold medals across three editions of the Southeast Asian games.
It was the high point in what can only be called a tumultuous career. Joseph’s crowning achievement was sullied by when he was investigated, and subsequently confessed to, consuming cannabis overseas while on a short-term disruption from National Service.
His first Olympic appearance in 2012 didn’t go swimmingly either, as he was forced to swim without his cap and googles when they failed to meet regulation – and so too for his last, where he came in last in his heat, preventing him from qualifying for the semi-finals at the 2020 Olympic Games in his pet event, the 100m butterfly.
The champion has now left behind the swimming pool for the world of venture capital.
