Any chance to be champions?

The Sunday Times sports editor wrote yesterday about how we must 'think big' in order to produce sports champions. According to his article, SingaporeSailing's organised planning, covering all bases including skills, tactics, psychology and nutrition, is what is responsible for churning out sailing champs. In contrast, he mentions how one of our shooters is putting her studies on hold to train full time for 2008 but is currently without a 'good campaign master'.

I cannot agree more with his views. Sure, we have a 'small talent pool' problem. But if we can't think bigger than that 'obstacle', we might as well just hang around it and be content with sending athletes to competitions just for the fun of it.

Also, I have the impression that our sports 'campaigns' tend to be reactive. For example, we see certain athletes performing well at the Asian Games and then list them as potential for the Olympics. Hello, 2008 is less than 2 years away. You don't become an Olympic champ in less than 2 years.

Therefore, it boils down to how badly we want to produce champions. If we want to badly enough, the investment has to be long-term and somewhat costly. If we think it's not worth the cost, then we should just enjoy watching sports without putting too much pressure on our athletes to win medals and break records. Very often, people expect our athletes to do well just because they have the talent or because they have performed well in SEA. It's not that easy.

Then, there is also our mentality. I don't think most of us see ourselves as a nation of sporting champions. I realised during the Asian Games that this could be a reason why our athletes to lose out to those who come from countries where the sense of self-belief is so strong, not just among the athletes, but also throughout the nation.

I read in the papers about this female Chinese hurdler who declared that no one in Asia could beat her (and she was right). Chinese TV commentators were also brimming with confidence, to the extent that there were many times I felt they were overly patronising when they talked about China's opponents. Come on, you don't scoff at world-class players like Taufik Hidayat, right? But they did, even if in veiled ways, and that's the attitude that is all part of the programme to churn out champions. There were also these 'live' studio audiences who echoed this kind of 'we are the champions' sentiment, even before matches were played or races were run or swum.

That's why I felt kind of smug when we saw Tao Li's gold medal race and medal ceremony on TV. The Chinese commentator thought that a Chinese swimmer had won the race! To be honest, we were also surprised at the results, but there you have it. The Chinese 'champion' mentality versus the Singaporean wah-never-expected-her-to-win mentality.

In addition, there is also the long-term planning that we cannot match. We had the privilege of being let into this weightlifting training base.

These girls are teenagers who live and train at this base, almost all 365 days of the year. In fact, some have lived and trained at this base for years, and will live and train at this base for years to come. That's how you get champions. And this is just one of many training bases in the country, and one of many training bases throughout the world. One day, if I remember, and if I have the time, and if we get down to digitising some old photos, I will write about a couple other such places I've visited.

And you know what? I heard that some Malaysian divers were training at one of these Chinese bases pre-Asian Games. So guess why our neighbours are diving medallists at the Asian and Commonwealth Games...

Take a look at this old pool. It's not a training base, but it's got these 'become a champion' banners emblazoned on its walls anyway.

Take part in the provincial meet today, take part in the Olympic Games tomorrow! (rough translation)

That's the competition out there. There's no way we can be champions if we don't think big. That is, if we do want to be champions.