The Asian Games are over. I honestly didn't follow the whole sporting event, except for the badminton singles final match between Taufik Hidayat and Lin Dan. That was a cracker.
Our athletes did well, in fact, it was their biggest ever showing at the Asiads. 8 gold medals. It sounds like a big achievement, but when compared to China's gold medal haul, it's a pittance. Then again, compared to China's geography and population sizes, we are just a speck of dust. That explains the gulf in sporting excellence. Our sailors came back with more than half the gold and congratulations are in order for them for a job well done. Now, setting their sights higher, they are gunning for Olympic medals. All the best to them.
While I do follow sports, especially football, I'm not much of a Games fanatic. Be it SEA Games, Asian Games or Olympics, I've never been one to follow closely, apart from headline skimming. I mean while I love football, I don't give a damn about hockey and while I enjoy badminton, I don't care what happens in volleyball. Quite honestly, I couldn't care less if Singapore came home top of the medal standings or dead last, I only want to know what happened in the marquee events, like the 100m sprint or the football finals.
There's just too much going on in and around the Games to make ignite the interest within me. I mean, medal standing does nothing other than to boost national pride. Looking at it from a layman, what's the use of spending millions of dollars on a few sportsman hoping that they'd bring back gold medals only to reward them some more. Think about it. They spend insane amounts of money to send these elite athletes to overseas tournaments and training stints and at the end of the day, pay them some more when they bring glory to the nation? It's insane isn't it?
The value of sporting achievement and excellence has been eroded to me. In the years of Fandi Ahmad, Ang Peng Siong and Junie Sng, I doubt that money was an issue. It was more of their passion for their sport of choice and the love for their country which drove them to excel. It was so simple back then, they had the talent, they had the drive and they had the passion. Nowadays, it's what-do-I-get-in-return-for-committing-my talent-to-the-nation mindset that rules. The payout that the athletes receive for bringing back gold medals could well feed many a family for a whole year.
While I can't deny that the athletes deserve some form of recognition for their services, time, sweat and toil, it's absurd to think that they deserve hundreds of thousands of dollars after the millions spent on their athletic development. I mean, I doubt Ang Peng Siong ever got $250,000 for winning Asian Games Gold or setting the fastest 50m freestyle time in the world in 1982. He would have gotten at least $175,000 for the Asian Gold had the SNOC implemented the award back in 1982. He might even had gotten $1 million if the 50m was included as an Olympic event in 1984. However, I doubt all that meant anything to him then.
Like I mentioned before, while I do agree with recognition being given where it's due, I'm not quite in agreement with putting a financial value to each achievement. Then again, words of thanks are never enough nowadays.
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