Commentary: Looking beyond Singapore’s medal count at the 19th Asian Games

SINGAPORE: The deafening cheers in the stadium, the fluttering of national flags and the glittering medals. At elite sports events such as the recently concluded Asian Games in Hangzhou, when an athlete wins a medal, it’s not just their victory; it’s the triumph of a nation as a whole.

Recall how Joseph Schooling was feted like a king after he won Singapore’s first gold medal at the Olympics in 2016. Recall too how Shanti Pereira was celebrated earlier this month after ending Singapore’s 49-year wait for an Asian Games gold medal in athletics.

It would not be a stretch to say that medals dominate the thoughts of many: After all, the numerical scorecard is a vivid indicator of a nation's success on the sports world stage. Each country’s rank or position on the medal tally table is determined first by the number of gold medals, followed by silver medals and then bronze medals. While gold medals are highly valued, every medal that athletes win counts.

When a sprinter lines up on the blocks, a badminton player steps onto a court, or a swimmer dives off the platform, they become ambassadors of their countries. Hence, at the individual level, it is inevitable that their performances are judged by the colour of the medal that they win or do not win. Besides, this is the nature of sports competitions; athletes compete to achieve a podium finish.

But is the medal count an effective way to assess sporting success? This question was raised as Singapore, with three gold, six silver and seven bronze medals, finished 20th out of the 45 nations that took part in the Asian Games this year.

Singapore's Shanti Pereira (women's 200m), Maximilian Maeder (men's formula kite) and Ryan Lo (men's ILCA 7) won gold. Team Singapore swimmers