Soh Rui Yong is a gift that keeps on giving, and we mean that in a positive way.
He apologised to the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC)and said he could have “handled certain disputes in the past differently” in a Feb 22 Facebook post, which earned him praise from many commenters.
However, the shirtless photo of the athlete that accompanied the apology has gotten a fair amount of attention as well.
Last week, it made headlines when the two-time SEA Games marathon gold medalist was excluded from the Singapore line-up in this year’s games in Hanoi in May.
Soh, 30, had set a new national record last December, running the marathon in two hours, 22 minutes and 59 seconds, 10 minutes faster than the qualifying time set for the event by the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC).
A spokesman for the SNOC was quoted in The Straits Times as saying that Soh “fell short of the standards of attitude and behaviour the SNOC expects of and holds its athletes to”, the same reason it gave for excluding Soh from the athletes it sent to Manila for the SEA Games in 2019.
“This is categorically false and borders on defamation,” said the runner, who has himself been involved in two defamation suits in Singapore recently and is now studying law in London.
“I can confirm that President of SNOC, Tan Chuan Jin, has blocked me on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, for reasons only known to himself. While he is well within his rights to block whoever he wants to block, it’s hard to resolve disputes when the leader of the SNOC himself is not open to communication.”
However, less than a week after that defiant statement, he seemed to have had a dramatic change of heart. So he posted an apology, which he said he had arrived at “after some self reflecting.”
“I have decided to apologise to SNOC so we can resolve our differences and move forward in the best interests of Singapore sports.
“I fully recognise that athletes representing Singapore should do our best to serve as a role model to our youth. In my view, that includes standing up for what is right, no matter the cost.”
He acknowledged that he could “have handled certain disputes in the past differently” and “been more respectful and sensitive in my approach”.
“For that I apologise and will do better.”
He added that his apology had not been issued in order to “beg” to be included in Singapore’s SEA Games roster.
“But I’m apologising here purely because I recognise I’ve not handled certain disputes well in the past, and I will endeavour to do better and grow into a better person in the future,” he added.
The apology earned him some credit with many netizens.
There were also many commenters who were not won over and who decided to focus on the shirtless photo that he posted alongside the apology. Which,as these things are apt to do, spawned its own meme.
The unexpected apology, coming so swiftly on the heels of his defiant response to being excluded from Team Singapore yet again, also drew its share of comments from sceptics, including this one:
/TISG