The art of sport: Singapore’s athletes aim to deliver masterpieces at 2024 Paris Olympics
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A century after Paris 1924, the Olympic Games return to the French capital where Team Singapore aiming to deliver a vintage performance and masterpiece in the city of art.
ST’s Olympic series profiles six athletes and their sport in the hunt for glory from July 26 to Aug 11.
Maximilian Maeder’s art of bringing it home: Staying ahead of the pack
ST ILLUSTRATION: CHNG CHOON HIONG
Maximilian Maeder vividly remembers one of the first times he led in a race at a major international event. He was 14 and it was during a qualifier at the Formula Kite 2021 European Championships in Montpellier, France.
But his time at the front of the pack was short-lived as his excitement resulted in him falling off the board during a transition and he lost his lead.
He recalled: “I was quite disappointed in myself. I trained to get into that position and then I was so overcome with excitement when I get there and I make a blunder. I really didn’t want to let this happen again.”
Shanti Pereira’s art of the curve: A booming slingshot for maximum impact
ST ILLUSTRATION: CHNG CHOON HIONG
In biblical times, a boy named David defeated the giant Goliath with a slingshot. In recent times, Singapore sprint queen Shanti Pereira has been slaying her rivals with her own slingshot on the track.
Excitedly, the 200m specialist states that her favourite part of the race is when she exits the curve and “slingshots” into the straight.
“It’s like ‘boom!’, she says.
Loh Kean Yew’s art of the rally: A dance for dominance
ST ILLUSTRATION: CHNG CHOON HIONG
Every day Loh Kean Yew tests rubber. He leaps, darts, brakes, lunges, back-pedals. After three or four weeks, depending on how far he goes in the draw, his shoes get a little worn and he has to change them. If they don’t grip properly, or help him brake perfectly, it’s going to affect the most important part of his badminton life.
The rally.
The rally is as unscripted as a conversation. It has no set time – Loh, an aggressive player, remembers a 59-shot one he played – and no prescribed design. As he readies to serve, the Singaporean has a “rough plan” but his rival has his own one. This is a two-way interrogation conducted sometimes at a few hundred kilometres per hour.
Golfer Shannon Tan’s art of the drive: The opening act sets the tone
ST ILLUSTRATION: CHNG CHOON HIONG
Over a decade in age and nearly 20cm in height separate Bryson DeChambeau and Shannon Tan, but they are both trying to learn the same art – gaining more swing speed and distance.
Two-time US Open champion DeChambeau, known as “The Scientist” for his analytical approach to golf, once gained 22kg by drinking six to eight protein shakes and consuming 6,000 calories daily in pursuit of added distance.
The American boasts an average driving distance of 322.5 yards (294.9m) in the 2024 LIV Golf League season.
Kayaker Stephenie Chen’s art of the finish: Pushing past the pain
ST ILLUSTRATION: CHNG CHOON HIONG
The only thing Stephenie Chen is sure of, the only guarantee of her hurtling, relentless K1 500m race, is that she’s going to be wrecked by the finish.
As her race, which travels down a straight watery line, reaches its final section, and she has to hold her intensity and build on it, she knows what awaits her.
Pain.
Letitia Sim’s art of the breaststroke: Easy to learn, hard to master
ST ILLUSTRATION: CHNG CHOON HIONG
National swimmer Letitia Sim is a nitpicker. She likes her room clean and neat. In the call room, she is baffled by her competitors’ grunts and shouts – efforts to hype themselves up.
Before she chose to focus full time on swimming at 15, she was a gymnast obsessing over the toe point. As a golfer, she would spend a lot of time correcting her stance.
Details appeal to her, and this is why she swims the breaststroke.
