South East Asian Athletes Poised for Paris by Doyal D'angelo

Singapore had obtained only one medal until Project 0812, but then the nation would win four (including its first gold medal) within the next three Olympics (Beijing, London, and Rio).

Even though Singapore has done well regionally and continentally at various large-scale sporting events like the Southeast Asian Games, the recent success in Olympic sport is new and there are questions about Singapore’s overall investment, especially when national athletes like Olympic gold-medalist, Joseph Schooling, states that they struggle financially on their own in the process of training. Nonetheless, the government has been allocating more dollars toward sports success and development since 2006. There is still a need for more facilities, much like other Southeast Asian countries.

Vietnam displays immense energy for sports and is most noteworthy here. Vietnam is extremely proud of its sports teams as illustrated by its raucous street celebrations after major wins, like in the Southeast Asian Games soccer match against Thailand in 2022. Vietnam’s ability to pack stadiums, travel well, and support voraciously in the SEA games is indicative of the national pride that sweeps through its people. Vietnamese crowds have also been documented as showing support for athletes outside of Vietnam, which points to larger enthusiasm for sports, a show of patriotism and Asian pride.

Vietnam has come a long way since its independence in 1945, with its open-door policy in the 1980s resulting in the country taking part in the SEA games and the Olympics for the first time. Then in the 1990s, Vietnamese Sports Day was created to promote physical activity and to celebrate all that sports has to offer in Vietnam - it now often includes a run around Hoan Kiem Lake and the event draws thousands of people every year. “Sports days” are very common in all of Southeast Asia.

Since Olympic sport is relatively new in Vietnam, 2011 was when the sport sector started to round out with a larger number of disciplines, and the nation won its first gold medal in 2016 in the 10 meter air pistol event.

Something Vietnam does differently than some but not all other nations in the region is that it partners with other countries to carry out training for its athletes, hence why a select group of Vietnamese athletes and teams have been selected to travel to South Korea for training in preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics. South Korea provides a good purse for subsequently winning a medal, 200,000 on the low-end and one million on the high-end. It has become tradition in many Asian countries to shell out big chunks of money for Olympic winners, often times at a much higher price when compared to the United States ($37,500).

Sports leaders in Vietnam have highlighted how infrastructure and “sports socialization” could be vastly improved, and that seems to be the trend and overall consensus in Southeast Asian countries. There is often immense pride and jubilee for the SEA games, but Olympism and Olympic culture is a much taller task because of the need for resources and a consistent, proven structure for success. Although these countries do have sports schools, hubs and training centers to hold their athletes, domestic competition systems could be vastly refined and expanded across the board.