SINGAPORE - National Swimmers Joseph Schooling, Amanda Lim and Teong Tzen Wei have been fined $10,000, $2,800 and $3,200 respectively by the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) on Monday for breaching its code of conduct.
Olympic champion Schooling was also issued a conditional warning after the trio earlier admitted to consuming illicit drugs.
An SNOC spokesman said that its disciplinary committee (DC) has concluded its investigations into possible breaches of the team membership agreements for the 2019 and 2021 SEA Games, and the 2022 Commonwealth Games by the three swimmers, after reviewing relevant evidence and hearing from them in person.
In addition to the $10,000 fine, Schooling, 27, will be debarred from selection for all major games for two years, should he be found to have consumed drugs prohibited by Singapore law or breach any rule of the SNOC code of conduct in future.
SNOC said in its statement that Schooling was found to have breached eight rules of the code, including those related to consumption of alcohol, drugs or medication, accountability as well as gambling and smoking.
Lim, 29, and Teong, 25, were fined $2,800 and $3,200 respectively as they were found to have breached two rules related to behaviour and conduct.
Schooling and Lim declined to comment on the matter.
When contacted, Teong said on Monday: “(I’m) just glad that this whole situation is over and I can move on to greater/better things.”
On Aug 30, Schooling and Lim were revealed to have had consumed cannabis overseas. On Sept 28, it was revealed that Commonwealth Games silver medallist Teong had also admitted to consuming a controlled drug overseas.
The trio were investigated by the Central Narcotics Bureau for drug-related offences but all their urine tests were negative.
National agency Sport Singapore had also earlier conducted an internal review before suspending support for the three athletes for a month from Oct 1, after also considering their breach of their athlete agreement and Singapore’s stance towards drug abuse.
The SNOC spokesman also noted that the athletes admitted to various incidents and conduct “which amounted to transgressions” of the code of conduct and were “fully co-operative throughout the entire process”.
Noting that it is “regrettable that these athletes have erred”, the spokesman added that they have been “penalised by different bodies and have suffered the consequences”.
The DC has tried to “balance the objective of deterring athletes from engaging in serious conduct which breach the code of conduct in future major games, with the need to avoid a sanction that is disproportionate to the breaches committed”.
The spokesman added: “The DC hopes that the athletes will each accept and learn from their mistakes, and put their undoubted talent in the pool to better use for Singapore and themselves in the future.”
All fines collected will be donated to the Singapore Olympic Foundation, which supports athletes and the development of sport here.
The Major Games Award Programme (MAP) prize money that they earned from winning medals at the 2021 SEA Games and 2022 Commonwealth Games has been released to all three. It was initially withheld from Schooling and Lim, who were then set to pocket $11,000 and $3,000 respectively. Teong received $22,000 at the Sept 14 MAP Awards ceremony.
