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By Marc Lim
EVERY four years, those feelings of anticipation and pride come flooding back.
Every four years, he longs for the time when, finally, another Singaporean can share in his glory. Yet every four years since Tan Howe Liang took home a weightlifting silver from the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, he has waited. And waited.
Now 75, he has been wearing the title of Singapore's lone Olympic medallist with growing unease. All these years, he has been deluged with media attention, all asking the same questions.
Does he think the wait will end? Does he still think about that day in 1960 when he mounted the rostrum?
It is no surprise that Tan now shies away from the limelight.
'Enough about me, just wish the team good luck,' was all he would say when The Straits Times spoke to him this week.
With just a week to go before Singapore's largest Olympic team touches down in Beijing, there is mounting optimism that his wait may soon be over.
The women's table tennis team, ranked second in the world, are tipped to bring home a medal.
But Singapore's Beijing contingent is not just about Li Jiawei and Co. It is about the celebration of a 25-strong team, representing the best of us, the best Singapore has sent to the Games.
Over the next few pages, you will find athletes who earned their right to be among the world's best.
Twenty-four of the 25 athletes qualified on merit - a new high. Only one, sprinter Calvin Kang, is a wildcard entry.
This is thanks to Singapore's investment in sports over the last decade or so. Since the early 1990s, a concerted effort has been made to pursue sporting excellence. It started with the implementation of the Sports Excellence programmes and moved on to areas such as sports medicine.
Former Singapore Sports Council chairman Ng Ser Miang recalls: 'We always aimed to one day be able to contend for a medal. But in honesty, our athletes were probably there more to gain experience in the past.
'This has changed in the last couple of years. Some of our athletes are now serious contenders.'
Jing Junhong came close to delivering Singapore a medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Four years later at the Athens Games, Li also nearly succeeded.
At the last Asian Games in 2006 and the South-east Asia Games last year, Singapore recorded best-ever medal hauls.
Meanwhile, government support has increased. In 2001, the Government and Singapore Pools, after recommendations from the Committee on Sporting Singapore, pledged $500 million to sport in 2001.
In 2006, Project 0812 was started to fast-track Singapore athletes to win medals at both the 2008 and 2012 Games.
A total of $5 million has since been spent on helping athletes in badminton, sailing, shooting and table tennis. Top-level coaches were hired and athletes sent on more overseas competitions and training.
The result is seen in the 2008 team.
Says Ng, chairman of Project 0812: 'It's not only the best team we've ever sent, but also the best prepared.
'And it's not just one for the present, but with athletes in their teens, one for the future as well.'
It is time for Singapore sport to march forward, and no one would agree more than a weightlifting hero from the past.
marclim@sph.com.sg
Read the Saturday Special Report in The Straits Times for more.
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