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Singapore's First Olympic Medal
17 September 2024
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Image: National Archives of Singapore (Singapore Sports Council)
Singapore’s Olympic endeavour began at the London Olympics 1948 with one athlete, Lloyd Valberg, in the high jump event. Since then, our athletes have competed in almost every edition of the Games, demonstrating values of sportsmanship, excellence and resilience. #OnThisDay (8 Sep) 64 years ago, Tan Howe Liang won Singapore’s first Olympic medal, finishing second amongst thirty-three competitors in the lightweight category of the weightlifting event at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Tan cultivated a love for weightlifting after watching a competition at the amusement park. After only training for a year on his own, he won the National Junior and Senior Weightlifting Championship titles in the lightweight division in 1953. He participated for the first time and finished ninth at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics but that did not stop him. At the 1958 Commonwealth and Empire Games, he set a world record in the clean-and-jerk in the lightweight category with a lift of 157kg.
The 10-hour competition at the Rome Olympics was a gruelling test of strength and courage for Tan. Despite suffering cramps in both thighs and was advised to seek medical treatment before his clean-and-jerk attempt, Tan powered on to lift 155kg, which broke the existing Olympic record by 5kg. He recorded a total weight of 380kg to win a silver and Singapore’s first Olympic medal.
Since then, Singapore has gone on to win a total of six medals at the Olympics – one gold, two silvers and three bronzes. The women’s table tennis team of Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu won a silver at Beijing 2008 before bagging a bronze at London 2012, where Feng also won an individual bronze medal. Joseph Schooling won Singapore’s first historic gold medal in the 100m butterfly swimming event at 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder clinched a bronze, Singapore’s sixth medal, at the latest Paris Olympics.
Our new crop of athletes in #TeamSingapore stand on the shoulders of giants like Tan, daring themselves to dream big, act on their aspirations and persevere to achieve greater heights.