Each week, TODAY’s long-running Big Read series delves into the trends and issues that matter. This week, we look at the Singapore athletes’ preparations for the Tokyo Olympics taking place next month, despite health concerns arising from the pandemic. This is a shortened version of the full feature,​ which can be found here.

• With Japan battling its fourth wave of the Covid-19 outbreak, calls have mounted for the Olympics to be cancelled
• Singapore’s Tokyo-bound national athletes believe that the risks can be minimised so long as they follow the safety measures
• Observers noted that the athletes’ safety also depends on external factors such as the behaviour of other countries’ athletes and regulations issued by the host
• Athletes may not perform at their peak in the light of disruptions to their training and the one-year delay
• Still, Singapore’s athletes said they are gunning to do their best

SINGAPORE — When national diver Jonathan Chan attended an international competition last month after a year-long hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he was greeted by a very different scene.

Unlike previous competitions where he could wander freely around the host country, the 24-year-old could only leave his hotel room in Tokyo, Japan, for training or the competition event itself.

There was also a five-person limit on the number of divers who could be on the diving board at any one time, where there was none before. Chan also had to keep his mask on until he was at the swimming pool.

But despite the best efforts of the organisers, Chan said there were moments of concern at the 2021 Fina Diving World Cup.

“On competition day, everybody wants to warm up. So that’s when you see a huge cluster of people rushing up to the board to dive, and you see athletes covering their mouths near the tower,” he said.

Despite these hiccups, the fact that protocols and regulations were in place to ensure the safety of athletes at the World Cup, which is seen as a dress rehearsal for the Olympics, has left Chan feeling more confident about his personal safety when he returns to Tokyo next month to compete in the men’s 10m platform Olympic event.

That is, if the show will go on at all.

The Tokyo Olympics, which was postponed from last year due to fears over the Covid-19 pandemic, is slated to take place from July 23 to Aug 8.

But with Japan battling a fourth wave of the coronavirus outbreak, a cloud continues to hang over the Games, seen as the pinnacle of sporting events.

Amid fears that the event could turn into a super-spreader event, top officials from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have declared that the Games will go on, insisting that the event will be safe for the athletes and the wider community.

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in an interview on May 27 with American media outlet CNN that as of now, the Republic is prepared to send a delegation to the Games.

“We will take all the necessary precautions, and obviously, in the case of the Singapore delegation, you know that we will be vaccinated as well,” he said.

Dr Balakrishnan added that the Government would “see what the situation is like closer to the date” and expressed confidence in the Japanese government’s efforts to make the Games safe.

With fewer than 50 days to go before the sporting extravaganza begins, 10 of Singapore’s Tokyo-bound athletes told TODAY that they are undeterred by safety concerns and have adapted their training to the challenges brought about by Covid-19.

While athletes and members of the sporting fraternity alike said that they are assured of the precautions taken by the Singapore authorities, they recognise that Team Singapore’s (TeamSG) safety will also depend on external factors, including efforts by the host country and other nations, as well as the nature of the virus itself.

TURNING NEGATIVES INTO POSITIVES

Even as big name Olympians such as Chinese shuttler Lin Dan called it a day after the Tokyo Olympics was postponed last year, TeamSG athletes said that they had turned the postponement to their advantage as it gave them more time to prepare for the Games.

For national swimmer Joseph Schooling, he said the extra year gave him time to become physically and mentally stronger.

Singapore’s sole Olympic gold medallist said that he continued training on land when he returned to Singapore from the United States just before the circuit breaker in April last year.

He also focused on his conditioning and technique work amid the lack of competition practice.

“The positives that came out of my time during the circuit breaker gave me a lot of time to think of what I can do to try and get even better. Just because we can’t do the things that we normally do during these strange times, it doesn’t mean that we can’t get better when we return,” said the 26-year-old. 

For others like Chan, the mandatory stay-home notice period after returning to Singapore from international competitions has been disruptive to training.

The enforced break means that it takes longer for divers to train and become competition-ready again, said Chan, who is the first Singaporean diver to qualify for the Olympics.

However, he said that he has been through worse situations such as when he was serving his National Service and only had a day or two to prepare for competitions after booking out.

Moreover, the Singapore Swimming Association, the governing body for the sport here, has also supplied athletes in quarantine with weights and mats so that they can continue their training even during quarantine, said Chan.

SAFETY CONCERNS

While every Olympic Games has its own set of challenges, from the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Games to the Zika virus in the 2016 Rio Games, the Tokyo edition will be “uncharted territory” with many more unknowns than before, said members of the sporting fraternity.

Former Olympians and members of the sporting fraternity had mixed views on how safe the Tokyo Olympics would be, and whether it is wise to send a Singapore delegation to the event, even as they concurred that the Singapore authorities will put the safety of the country’s athletes first.

Mr Oon Jin Teik, the former chief executive officer of Sport Singapore (SportSG), the national sports governing body, called on the IOC and Tokyo Organising Committee to do an open, comprehensive and transparent risk assessment of the Games.

Mr Oon had publicly called for the postponement of the Games last year, based on his personal experience co-chairing the first Asian Youth Games in Singapore in 2009.

He said that it had been “incredibly difficult and challenging” to run the event during the H1N1 influenza pandemic at that time.

However, the Olympics in Tokyo would be on a far larger scale featuring more athletes, events, and stakeholders including volunteers, he pointed out.

Even if the Japanese authorities and the IOC were to have all protocols in place, the safety of the event could still be compromised by external factors, said other observers.

It will be impossible to avoid contact with athletes from other nations during the actual sporting event despite efforts to segregate them, pointed out former national fencer Nicholas Fang.

While TeamSG athletes have been fully vaccinated, the virus can still breach the vaccines, added Mr Fang.

Dr Benedict Tan, Singapore’s Chef de Mission for the Tokyo Olympics, said in response to queries from TODAY that the support team behind the athletes have taken “great pains” to ensure that Covid-19 does not scuttle the athletes’ training, qualification, and performance on the Olympic stage.

“We have been preparing for these Games for years, like at every other major Games, assessing and anticipating all risks and ensuring that we have the right measures and precautions in place to manage them,” he said.

The Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC), which coordinates the selection of Singapore athletes for competition at major games, also told TODAY that preparations for the Tokyo Games have been in the works for many years, and that it has worked with stakeholders to ensure that “all grounds (are) covered”.

KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE

TeamSG athletes, many of whom will be making their debut at the Games, said that despite their safety concerns, they wish to fulfil their dream of taking part in the Olympics, no matter how subdued this year’s event may be.

Being vaccinated and having observed safe practices in other international events so far have also given them greater confidence.

Schooling, who will be aiming to retain his Gold medal in the men’s 100m butterfly swimming event, said that he is wholly focused on his Olympic mission.

“I continue to train and prepare for the Olympics and continue to hit the targets that've been set for me,” he said.

For national fencer Amita Berthier, 21, who will be debuting at the Olympics, the excitement of participating in the Games overtakes any fear she may have.

She added that being vaccinated “eases the mind a little” and she will trust the protocols in place.

On top of training in a bubble to prevent being infected by the virus before the Games, shooter Adele Tan, 22, said that she is also stocking up on disinfectants to bring to Tokyo.

She acknowledged that there are risks involved in going to the Olympics, but the key is to take “a calculated risk” and be extra cautious in one’s hygiene and health measures.

WILL SPORTING PERFORMANCE BE COMPROMISED?

After a year of disrupted training, some members of the sporting fraternity here said that expectations about the athletes’ performances in Tokyo, including that of the Singapore contingent, will have to be lowered.

Mr Low Teo Ping, the Chef de Mission for TeamSG at the 2016 Rio Olympics, said that one other consideration apart from safety, when deciding if the Games should go on or if a contingent should be sent there, is whether athletes can perform to their best after the one-year disruption.

“If one's expectation (given the pandemic) is that… there is no need (for athletes) to perform to their maximum capability, then I think there’s something fundamentally not correct, because your expectation is that they should be (giving their best),” he said.

Mr Mark Chay, a former Olympian and chairman of the SNOC’s Athletes’ Commission, believes that Singapore’s athletes are prepared to give their best shot in Tokyo.

The postponement of the event has given athletes time to rest and recuperate. They have also been training as far as possible, said Mr Chay, who is also a Nominated Member of Parliament.

When asked if targets have been lowered for the Singapore athletes in light of the Covid-19 situation, Singapore Sport Institute chief Toh Boon Yi said that SportSG is “largely optimistic and confident” that the Singapore contingent will put on a strong performance at the Olympics.

The institute, which comes under SportSG, supports high performing athletes in Singapore.

Athletes, too, said that their targets had not changed and they are still out to perform their best at the Games.

Said national diver Chan: “We’ve always had disruptions in training, like school or National Service. So I’m quite used to such disruptions. My expectations are more or less the same.” 

‘A CELEBRATION OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT’

The IOC has said that while athletes will stay at the Olympic Village, physical interactions between them, such as hugging or high-fives will not be allowed.

Unlike previous occasions where athletes could stay at the Village for the duration of the Games, they will now have to leave after their competitions conclude.

With the Olympic Village deprived of its usual celebratory pomp, Mr Oon questioned if it will be the Olympics as we know it.

But with the pandemic showing no signs of ending, Mr Chay believes it is time for the Olympics, and sports in general, to evolve with the times.

With all the negativity surrounding the pandemic in the last year, it was also time for some positivity, said Mr Chay.

“We need something to celebrate about and that is the whole reason for the Olympics – to celebrate the human spirit and performance of our athletes.”