Olympic Festival in S'pore?

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is exploring the possibility of hosting the first Olympic Virtual Sports Festival in Singapore next year.

This was revealed by IOC president Thomas Bach during a flying visit to Singapore yesterday.

In remarks during a lunch with the sports fraternity at the Skai Suites at Swissotel, he said: "We would be very pleased to have the inaugural Olympic Virtual Sports Festival here in Singapore."

Referring to how the Singapore staged the first Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in 2010, he added: "You were a trailblazer with the YOG and maybe you can be a trailblazer again with the Virtual Sports Festival in 2023."

The festival is expected to build on the IOC's inaugural Olympic Virtual Series last May and June.

The global competition, which aims to promote virtual sport in collaboration with international sports federations and game publishers, attracted 250,000 participants from over 100 countries.

A spokesman for national agency Sport Singapore said: "Singapore is excited to hear about IOC's vision for the Olympics Virtual Sports Festival, extending their mission of bringing people together onto the virtual platform.

"There is much synergy between IOC's vision and Singapore's ambitions in the virtual sports arena. And we very much welcome further discussion with IOC on the possibilities ahead."

At yesterday's lunch, Bach, a German former fencer and Olympic champion from 1976, mingled with guests from the local sports fraternity, which included officials from national sports associations and Olympians.

In a media doorstop later, he also praised the Republic's ability to organise world-class sporting events, noting "there can be no doubt and the entire world knows about it".

He even suggested the country could one day host the Olympics, saying: "We are very open in the IOC, we have revolutionised the candidature procedure.

"We have also revolutionised the organisation of the Games, making them much more sustainable and feasible and being much more flexible than we have been in the past.

"So the door is open but you can only organise any event, including the Olympic Games, if you are interested and show an interest."

Bach's day-long trip - his first visit to the Republic since he was elected IOC president in September 2013 - was a busy one.

He arrived yesterday morning and will leave this morning.

He visited the Singapore Botanic Garden, where an orchid was named after him, had a tree dedicated to him at Gardens By The Bay before attending a private dinner.

Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, IOC vice-president Ng Ser Miang and Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) president Tan Chuan-Jin - whom Bach presented with the IOC President's Trophy - were among those who attended the lunch. The IOC President's trophy is a prestigious award for international contributors to the Olympic movement.

Mr Tan, who is also Speaker of Parliament, said Bach's leadership of the IOC "provided a steady hand in steering us in the storm", with a "glimmer of light" in the fight against the pandemic now appearing.

"I hope and I know Singapore will continue to serve the Olympic movement positively, and we hope to also continue to play host to more IOC events in the future... and to encourage and inspire more generations of young Singaporeans to participate in this movement that we've all benefited from," he added.

Singapore's former Olympians, such as 97-year-old former footballer "Twinkletoes" Chia Boon Leong and ex-hockey player Ajit Singh Gill, 94, were also present at the lunch alongside members of the present generation.

They included divers Jonathan Chan and Freida Lim, open water swimmer Chantal Liew, rower Joan Poh and table tennis players Yu Mengyu and Feng Tianwei, all of whom competed at last year's Tokyo Olympics.

During his time in Singapore, Bach was also hosted by President Halimah Yacob at the Istana.

There, they had a conversation on sport and its power to inspire and unite people and bring out the best in them, wrote President Halimah on Facebook.

"We both agreed that it is important to continue creating opportunities for individuals to experience and participate in sports, and create meaningful bonds in the process," she added.