Joseph Schooling, the first and only Olympic champion from Singapore, recently announced his retirement from competitive swimming. His name was popularly known in the sport for defeating his idol, the swimming legend Michael Phelps, in Rio. He revealed this huge news eight years after winning against Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly category.
In an Instagram post, Schooling expressed: “Today marks the beginning of a new chapter — I will be retiring from competitive swimming… I am filled with gratitude for every experience that swimming has brought into my life. The victories were exhilarating, the defeats humbling, and together, they have forged a resilience in me that I will carry forward into my next chapter.”
In an interview with Strait Times newspaper, Schooling admitted that he had become complacent on where he is in his swimming career.
Schooling admitted: “Add on ego, add on pride. Add on that ‘I’m never going to be shut down attitude’. That’s a recipe for complacency. That’s one of the lessons that I learnt.”
When he announced he was not fully prepared to compete at the Asian and Southeast Asian Games last year, doubts were raised about his future. However, he is confident to learn and explore as he ventures into a new journey.
“While I am stepping away from competing, swimming will forever be a part of who I am. It has given me a platform to inspire others to chase their dreams, no matter the odds… I am eager to explore new passions, face different challenges, and see where this next phase of life takes me. Thank you to my supporters for standing by me every step of the way. I hope you will join me as I embark on this new adventure,” he concluded his social media post.
SINGAPORE: There are only a few weeks till the Hangzhou Asian Games, to be held from Sept 23 to Oct 8, and excitement is in the air over the Singaporean athletes competing this year. Here is Singapore’s Asian Games 2023 complete team list.
The Singapore National Olympic Council announced last weekend that this year’s 431-strong contingent across 32 sports is the largest so far and unveiled that Mr Jowen Lim (Wushu) and Ms Amita Berthier (Fencing) are to be the flagbearers at this year’s Games.
Ms Berthier will also double up as the pledge taker.
The team includes former badminton world champion Loh Kean Yew and his older brother, Loh Kean Hean, as well as Sprint Queen Shanti Pereira, who has been having an amazing year.
Dr Koh Koon Teck, Chef de Mission for Team Singapore, said, “The athletes have their targets set and will be working closely with their performance team to meet them. I am confident that if they continue to train well and keep their focus, they will be able to perform to the best of their ability in Hangzhou.
“This year, we have also seen impressive performances from our athletes at the Cambodia 2023 SEA Games as well as at other competitions, and I hope Singaporeans can join us in encouraging them to continue to put their best form forward for Singapore.”
This year’s games had been scheduled for last year but were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
There will be 483 events in 40 sports at the Asian Games.
Here is the full list of athletes on Team Singapore
Three-time Olympic gold medallist Adam Peaty failed to retain his 100 metres breaststroke title in Paris. He won silver, not gold, but still, it was a remarkable achievement. He was unwell and, after the event, was diagnosed with Covid.
The 29-year-old Englishman lost by only 0.02 seconds to the Italian Nicolo Martinenghi, tying with the American Nic Fink in second place. They both completed the 100 metres in 59.05 and went on to share the podium step together.
Before feeling unwell, Peaty had swum faster in the semi-finals, where he clocked 58.86, a time that would have won gold in the finals, where Martinenghi won the race in 59.03.
Peaty, who won the 100 metres breastroke in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo three years ago, had been aiming to match the American Michael Phelps’ record of winning the same swim race at three straight Olympics, but he woke up on Sunday (July 28) morning with a sore throat. (Phelps won the 100 metres butterfly as well as the 200 metres medley in Athens, 2004; Beijing, 2008; and London, 2012).
World record holder
Peaty is the world record holder in the men’s 100 metres breaststroke with a time of 56.88 recorded in 2019.
Team Great Britain said in a statement: “Adam Peaty began feeling unwell on Sunday, ahead of his men’s 100 breaststroke final. In the hours after the final, his symptoms became worse and he was tested for COVID early on Monday morning. He tested positive at that point.”
“The situation is being managed appropriately,” the British team statement said, “with all usual precautions being taken to keep the wider (British) delegation healthy.”
The Paris Olympics do not have COVID-specific health rules, a departure from the Tokyo Games and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
Peaty is not the first athlete to come down with Covid in Paris. Five Australian women water polo players tested positive even before the Games began.
Peaty hugged Martinenghi and Fink on the medal podium and said he was delighted for Martinenghi.
Later, he wrote on Instagram that he had a tough time before the Olympics and added that the silver medal was a “blessing”.
“A night full of raw emotion and sport in its true form,” he wrote. “These last 14 months have been incredibly testing and I do not regret one training session or decision I made.
“I’ve continued to fight and find new ways to enjoy something that has broken me to the core and to end up with an Olympic silver through all of that is an absolute blessing. I’m more proud of the man and athlete I am from last night than I have been across my entire career.”
He now has six Olympic medals, including three gold medals (for 100 metres breaststroke in Rio and Tokyo and 4×100 metres mixed medley in Tokyo) and three silvers (for 4×100 metres medley in Rio and Tokyo and 100 metres breaststroke in Paris).
Peaty, who returned to racing in February after mental health struggles, described his silver medal as a personal victory.
“In my heart I’ve won and these are happy tears because I said to myself that I would give my absolute best every single day and I have. You can’t be upset about that,” he said.
Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica has pledged to make a comeback after being forced to withdraw from the Olympics in Paris due to an Achilles ailment.
The athlete previously chose not to compete in the 200 metres at the Jamaican trials, which put an end to her hopes of pulling off the record “triple double” of winning the 100 and 200 metres in three straight Olympics.
After injuring her lower leg during the New York Grand Prix earlier this month, Thompson-Herah announced on social media her withdrawal from the Jamaican trials but said that she is determined to continue her track career.
The athlete said: “It’s a long road but I am willing to start over and keep working and to make full recovery and resume my track career. I am hurt and devastated to be missing the Olympics this year but at the end of the day it’s sports and my health comes first.”
“I will wait and I will still continue to work towards my goals that I haven’t achieved yet. I will be definitely watching hopefully from the stands and cheer my country Jamaica 🇯🇲 on,” she added.
On ending the historic ‘triple double’ Olympic wins
Thompson-Herah was hoping to lock down a spot in the 100-metre and relay teams, but she had already opted not to run in the 200-metre event at the trials. After becoming the first woman to win consecutive gold medals in the 100 and 200 metres in the Tokyo Olympics, she lost the opportunity to attempt an Olympic ‘triple double’ by winning the 100 and 200 metres in the next Games.
With a second-fastest 100-metre time of 10.54, just 0.05 slower than Florence Griffith-Joyner’s world record, and the third-fastest 200-metre time in history, she is undoubtedly a modern-day sporting legend in the field of athletics.
Thompson-Herah has had a difficult few years following Tokyo, and last year’s injury-plagued season largely cost her a spot at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. She came back for the 4×100-metre relay, but Jamaica won silver behind the United States, so she was not chosen for the final.
In the past, Thompson-Herah has experienced serious consequences from her Achilles injuries. She said the one-year Covid wait for the Tokyo Olympics helped her overcome the issue after she struggled to fifth place in the 100m at the 2017 World Championships and fourth place in 2019, after the Rio Olympics.
Dafne Schippers announced her retirement from track and field at the age of 31.
On September 26, Schippers announced her retirement on Instagram with a heartwarming video, captioned with a message that says:
“The race stops here. As an athlete, you always know this day will come, that at one point, your career will be a moment in time—-a collection of memories and hopefully medals.
Today, I have decided to take my life off track to pursue and embrace whatever comes next, but not without saying a massive thank you for all the endless support. It has been a journey without regret.
My family, my team, my fans, and my sponsor, you made it all worthwhile.
X Dafne”
Schippers’ notable accolades over the years
The two-time Dutch champion Schippers departed the sport with a slew of awards under her belt.
Schippers’ original sport was the heptathlon, and in her years of competing in this discipline, she was met with a number of losses and successes, her most notable achievements being the gold medals that she won at the 2010 World Junior Championships and 2011 European Junior Championships. At the young age of 21, Schippers also went on to compete at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, where she also claimed bronze, cementing her place as the first Dutch woman to ever claim a medal in the heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships.
Besides heptathlon, Schippers also competed in other disciplines in track and field like long jump, 4×100 m relay, 60 m, 100 m and 200 m. In 2014, Schippers etched her name into history by winning the 100-meter and 200-meter events at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich.
In an illustrious career, she emulated Fanny Blankers-Koen, becoming the second Dutchwoman ever to claim victory in the 100-meter race. This monumental accomplishment led to a pivotal decision as she transitioned from heptathlon to focus on sprinting.
Merely a year after this career-defining shift, Schippers secured her second gold medal in the 200m event at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, outpacing Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah.
The subsequent year witnessed Schippers capturing her second gold in the 100 m race at the 2016 European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam, along with her maiden gold in the 4x100m relay. In the following year, she clinched her second 200m gold at the IAAF World Championships in London, achieving victory with a remarkable time of 22.05 seconds, narrowly surpassing Marie-Josée Ta Lou and Shaunae Miller-Uibo.
However, her years of success were hindered when she started to have injuries that hampered her performances. In 2019, she sustained an adductor injury during the semifinals, which forced her removal from the 200 m and 100 m final events at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Her back injuries also restricted her from competing on the track, forcing her to take a break for more than a year.
Schippers was last seen competing at the 100 m event in the Guldensporenmeeting Kortrijk 2022, where she placed second in the heat of the event, clocking an 11.37 second time and placing second behind Jamaica’s Shashalee Forbes.
“My medals were scattered across my parents’ house and my own. In my athlete days, it was all about chasing the next medal. But now that I’ve chosen to retire, these medals carry a deeper meaning with intense memories. I counted 17 international senior medals, youth medals, honorable trophies and 22 national medals. Each medal has a story, and all the stories added up have found a new home. They finally deserve a trophy cabinet 😊✨”
Australia’s Jessica Fox is widely seen as the greatest individual slalom canoe paddler of all time. The 30-year-old eight-time world champion has four Olympic medals under her belt.
The Paris Olympics mark a return to roots for her.
She was born in Marseille, France, but moved to Australia with her family at the age of four.
Selected to be the Australian flag-bearer at the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony, she said it was “probably the greatest moment of my career” . She shared the honour with the Australian field hockey player and five-time Olympian Eddie Ockenden.
Fox, whose mother is French, said, “Obviously that French connection is very strong and it’s such a wonderful, special, unique moment to be able to bring my two cultures together: the French, the Australian,” according to Australia’s ABC News.
She comes from a family of Olympian paddlers.
Her younger sister, Noemi Fox, 27, is making her Olympic debut in Paris, competing in the women’s kayak cross event.
Their mother, Myriam Jerusalmi, won bronze for France at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games and coaches Jessica. Their father, Richard, paddled for Britain at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
The Paris Olympics will be Jessica Fox’s fourth Summer Games.
She made her debut at the 2012 London Olympics, where she won a silver in the K1 event. Four years later, she won a bronze in the same event at the Rio de Janeiro Games. She won not only a bronze in K1 at Tokyo but struck gold as well. Fox like several others had been been urging women be allowed to compete in canoe slalom, and when it was introduced in the Tokyo Olympics, she won gold in that C1 event.
Outside the Olympics, Fox has won 22 medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, including 14 golds, five silvers and three bronzes. Her eight gold medals in individual events make her the most successful paddler, male or female, in World Championship history.
