I had assumed everyone knows Ang Peng Siong. Until I mentioned his name to a 21-year-old and did not get the reaction I expected. I asked this young man if he was familiar with the music of ABBA. The reaction was similar. To a whole generation of Singaporeans, Ang Peng Siong was arguably the first poster boy of swimming, nicknamed Asia’s ‘Flying Fish’, idolised and the source of inspiration for many. It was a time when our nation was coming into its own, when the bread-and-butter issues of the 1970s were less pressing. In 1982, Ang Peng Siong became the first, and since then the only, Singaporean to hold the world number one ranking in the 50m freestyle with a time of 22.69 seconds. He was awarded the ’the world fastest swimmer’ title that year. He would go on to represent Singapore in world events, including the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Last Saturday, from the business district to the heartland, in homes, coffee shops, offices, shopping centres and clubs, Singaporeans held their breath for 50.39 seconds. When they exhaled, an Olympic record was broken. By a 21year-old Singaporean. On the podium, with the gold medal hanging from the broad shoulders of Joseph Schooling, grown men and women started to cry across the island as Majulah Singapura was played for the first time at the Olympic Games. And for the first time, a new generation of Singaporeans saw how sports can unite a nation with pride, how sports can knit the multi-racial and multi-cultural fabric in a way they have never experienced before. From that moment, Singaporean boys and girls will take for granted that it is possible to win at a world event. A glass ceiling was broken. Young Singaporeans will work harder, push further and dream bigger.
A single-minded focus of being the best drove and defined the former boss of MediaCorp Raintree Pictures
