No kidding. There is a Singapore Olympian at the Winter Games in Beijing.
You may not recognise him so readily because he’s all bundled up. But there he was in the traditional torch relay that leads to the lighting up of the Olympic flame in China’s capital city.
And yes, he is very much a part of the Olympics. Mr Ng Ser Miang told The Independent Singapore that he has taken part in quite a few Olympic torch relays before,
Mr Ng, 72, who used to compete in sailing for Singapore, was at one time vice president of the International Sailing Federation, and chaired the Singapore Sports Council for 11 years from 1991.
He is now one of the vice-presidents of the Intertional Olympic Committee, or IOC, the highest decision-making body of the movement. The first Asian to be elected to the IOC’s executive board, Mr Ng has served the IOC as a member since 1998, and as a vice-president since 2009. He was re-elected to the post in July 2020.
Mr Ng chaired the organising committee of the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010. One would be hard pressed to find another Singaporean who has dedicated so much of his life to the cause of sport, particularly international sport. Businessman, diplomat, president of the Spanish football club Valencia are just some of the other roles that he has taken on.
Shortly before leaving for Beijing, he told Xinhua, China’s official news agency, in an interview that although there is no Singapore athlete taking part in the Winter Games, he is happy that Singapore is one of the four hubs for the current games. Since Jan 23, Singapore Airlines had beeb operating daily commercial flights to and from Beijing to facilitate travel for participants from the neighbouring countries to Beijing.
Mr Ng sees the Winter Games as an event that shows “the world can reeky cine together ti achieve something that even the pandemic cannot stop”.
He added: “I think this could be the light at the end of the tunnel, where we believe that hopefully after he Games, we learn better how to organise big events even with the pandemic, and hopefully the world would go back to normal as soon as we can.” /TISG
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