RIGHT up till September last year, Scott Wong spent more time out in the field than in class.
He was preparing for the Asean Schools Track and Field Championships, never mind that his A-level examinations were looming.
He took two gold medals - one each for discus and shot put. By throwing a distance of 53.88m, he rewrote the 21-year-old schools' national 1.5kg discus record of 53.84m set by James Wong.
Scott then had two months to hunker down to study. 'I cut down on training - to at most once a week. Before that, I trained every day,' he said yesterday. It turned out that he is as good a student as he is an athlete.
The former Hwa Chong Institution student aced General Paper, Chemistry, Bio-
logy, Economics, Maths and Project Work. The only blemish, if anyone could call it that: B3 in Higher Mother Tongue. He had help, in the form of private tutors.
'I have everyone to thank, but my coach in particular was very understanding when I cut down on training,' said Scott, who is now doing his national service.
The 18-year-old is preparing for the SEA Games in December. Only after that will he start thinking about applying for a place to study medicine at the National University of Singapore.
Another top athlete training for the SEA Games is former Raffles Junior College student Jonathan Koh, who scored straight As in General Paper, Chemistry, Physics, Economics and Maths.
The 2008 Sportsboy of the Year is a SEA Games air rifle double gold medallist.
