Olympics so far, Bronze for Feng Tian Wei

It has been a funny Olympics so far. The host nation don't seem to be dominating at any of the sports and struggling to win the medals. The favourites for different sports have been showing indifferent form at this Games, when they should be peaking at the right time to win the honours. Suddenly you see Phelps being squeeze out on medals, beaten by Lochte, USA beaten in swimming relays, Spain down and out of football, World Champions Argentina beaten in women's hockey. Don't be surprised that Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake being beaten by unknowns in the 100m sprint in athletics.



The comedy of errors brought up by the organisers and certain competitors were also very high. How can a 1st world country like Britain commit such a mistake by wrongly displaying the flags of the women's soccer team, especially between North and South Korea? Then you have the Chinese gymnastics robots who struggled in the qualifying rounds made the Chinese looked very juvenile.

Some good news is that Feng Tian Wei has won Singapore's 1st bronze medal in this Games. Even though she lost in the semi-finals to Ding Ning, the world no. 1, she did rattle off some confidence in Ding because Ding eventually lost in the finals. A lot of locals are disputing the fact that Feng is not a true blue Singaporean and they don;t actually feel proud of this achievement. But how many native Singaporeans can actually make it to the Olympics through qualifications? When they are competing hard at the Games, they are wearing the Singapore flag proudly, trying hard to win their matches. They would have gone through hours of trainings and dedication towards their sports in order to excel because they are professional sportsmen . How many native Singaporeans can sacrifice that much of time for glory? Native Singaporeans will have to worry about education, career, future and family that made sports become a leisure hobby. To be able to compete in an Olympics and called an Olympian, I think it is the pinnacle of being a sportsman. How many people can call themselves an Olympian? It is just like an astronaut, a submariner and pilot, it is an achievement to just to get there and to win a medal, Feng Tian Wei has truly done us proud.

The rest of the Singapore contingent did not fare as well. One thing to note, probably with the exception of Joseph Schooling's swim cap fiasco, the swimmers seemed to lack a mental toughness during this Games. Their times have been way below their personal best. Seems like it is a holiday trip for some of them. If Tao Li had qualified for her 100m Butterfly finals, the critics would have lashed out at her not being a true blue Singaporean again. They need to see the results and compare the native Singapore swimmers, who are the performers and who are the actual let downs.

Interesting point to note, during Feng Tian Wei's semi-finals with Ding Ning, Feng was wearing the Singapore jersey with a Lion's motif on it and Ding's jersey had Dragon's motif. Too bad the lion succumbed to the dragon in the end. Hopefully the lion will roar once again in the team events.