Commentary: Draw the right lessons from Joseph Schooling, Amanda Lim’s cannabis case for the benefit of future athletes

SINGAPORE: It was disheartening to hear the news on Tuesday (Aug 30) that two of our top swimmers, Amanda Lim and Joseph Schooling, have been investigated for using cannabis. Olympic champion Schooling confessed to consuming cannabis overseas, which is classified as an illicit drug by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB).

As national carded athletes, they are expected to set good examples for our youth and uphold the image of Singapore.

All three key sport agencies - Sport Singapore, Singapore National Olympic Committee, and Singapore Swimming Association - have issued statements that the use of banned drugs by national athletes is not to be tolerated.

While both Lim and Schooling have apologised publicly for their misdemeanours, further investigations and deliberations will be conducted to determine the next course of action.

Certainly, next steps must include a critical examination of the factors that have brought us here, drawing lessons that will benefit other and future athletes.

Competitive swimming is tough. Swimmers start training from a young age - Schooling left home at age 13 to train in the United States.

They undergo gruelling training regimens, twice a day and often up to six days a week. And that’s on top of other commitments like their studies, family, friends, and National Service.

They learn to develop nerves of steel, competing against established swim champs and aspiring hopefuls alike at the highest level in their sport.

We may cheer or cry with them but the reality is this: The weight of a nation’s hopes is not a load that many of us know or understand - certainly not before the high of Schooling’s Olympic record-setting win at the 2016 Rio Olympics nor after the low of finishing last in his 2020 Tokyo