SINGAPORE - The year 2016 was filled with milestone moments for Singapore swimming and Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) president Lee Kok Choy has vowed to build on the momentum in the coming years.
Besides Joseph Schooling's historic Olympic gold medal in the 100m butterfly event at the Rio Games last year, there were other breakthroughs like twins Mark and Timothy Lee becoming the first divers to secure the Sports Excellence (Spex) scholarships. National team-mate Freida Lim also became the first Singaporean diver to earn a full athletic scholarship to the United States to compete in the top division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) system.
Speaking after the SSA's annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday (June 29), Lee said: "2016 brought us many reasons to cheer, and for that, we also need to thank the affiliates and the swimming fraternity for being supportive of the SSA and our mission.
"We will continue to do nothing but our very best, to keep taking the sport to higher levels."
Aside from Schooling's victory, compatriot Quah Zheng Wen also had a credible showing at the Rio Games. The 20-year-old made the semi-finals of two of his three events, the 100m and 200m butterfly races.
Officiating also made the step up to Olympic-level as William Lee and Steve Chew became the first Singaporeans to judge at the Olympics for diving and synchronised swimming respectively.
The AGM held at the OCBC Aquatic Centre also saw the SSA adopt a proposed amendment to its constitution with the inclusion of a tie-break clause to govern what happens in the event of a tie after voting during an election.
Under the new changes, if there are two or more candidates that receive an equal number of votes, a re-vote shall be taken in the case of such candidates, and in the event of a tie after the re-vote, the chairman shall have the second or casting vote.
If the president is the chairman of the meeting and it is his role which requires a tie-break, it will be incumbent on the next highest appointee in the SSA exco to have the casting vote.
