With just two days to go to the biggest and most prestigious quadrennial global sporting spectacle, we take a look at seven athletes set to fly the Singapore flag in the city of Paris
Singapore will be represented by 23 athletes across 11 sports at the Paris Olympics. But just who is our medal hopeful, and who are the stars and upcoming athletes?
Here Hana Basir highlights seven Team Singapore athletes who have caught her eye, in no particular order starting off with Singapore's young prodigy who has taken the kitefoiling scene by storm.
Maximilian Maeder - Kitefoil / Formula Kite
17 years old. Asian champion. Reigning world champion. Maximilian Maeder arrived on the scene in 2021, when the then 15-year-old won the 2021 Formula Kite Youth World Championships (U19), Formula Kite Individual European Championships, Youth Sailing World Championships and KiteFoil World Series.
Losing out to rival Toni Vodisek in the 2022 World Championships and having to settle with silver, Maeder made sure the title of World Champion was his the following year. This time, he edged out Vodisek, and became the youngest ever winner in any Olympic sailing class competition at 16 years old.
The kitefoiling prodigy then went on to clinch gold at the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games and win the KiteFoil World Series that same year, putting him on the list of Singapore’s potential next Olympic medallist as Formula Kite is set to make its Olympic debut in Paris.
Honestly, to say Maeder might be the next Olympic medallist for Singapore might be an understatement since he’s actually the next gold medal hope. If the World No. 1 does make it to the finals, trust that we’ll be brought back to 2016, when everyone — yes everyone — eagerly watched Joseph Schooling swim his way to Singapore’s first ever Olympic gold medal.
Zhou Jingyi - Table Tennis
As she rose up the ranks, Zhou Jingyi was a force to be reckoned with in youth table tennis. And she had plenty of role models to look up to. After all, three out of five of Singapore’s Olympic medals were won by female table tennis players.
Zhou qualified for her first ever Olympics by virtue of her ranking. Placing 63rd in the Race to Paris, Zhou secured her spot as the top Asian player yet to qualify. By doing so, the 19-year-old became the youngest Singaporean-born female table tennis player to qualify for the games since Tan Paey Fern in 2004, who was 30 years old at the time
In 2018, Zhou flew the flag high by reaching the top five in the U15 girls’ International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world rankings. It clearly didn’t stop there, as the table tennis prodigy went on to clinch countless medals including 2021 World Table Tennis (WTT) Youth Contender Szombathely U17 gold, two silvers and a bronze at the 2021 Hanoi SEA Games as well as silver in the women’s doubles at the 2023 SEA Games. Zhou was also part of the gold medal-winning team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Most recently, the Portugal-based paddler bagged the gold medal at the 2024 Southeast Asian Regional Qualification tournament.
Shanti Pereira - Athletics
This list would be incomplete without Singapore’s Sprint Queen Shanti Pereira. At this point though, she may as well be Asia’s Sprint Queen after a whirlwind 2023.
We were all on the edge of our seats, as we eagerly anticipated the starter’s gun. Launching herself out of the blocks, Pereira came out of the bend strong. It was set to be the first Asian Games gold medal for Singapore in 49 years and as we all inched closer and closer to our screens, Pereira edged closer and closer to history. By a significant margin, Pereira crossed the finish line ahead of China’s Li Yuting to secure the elusive gold medal.
And as she teared up on the podium as Singapore’s national anthem rang out, we did too.
Pereira is also no stranger on the world stage. The four-time SEA Games champion became the first ever Singaporean to qualify for the World Athletics Championships on merit last year and — with her 31st out of 54 finish in the heats — placed as the highest Asian competitor in the 100m. In her forte event, the 200m, Pereira was the first ever Singaporean to progress to a semi final of the World Athletics Championships when she finished fourth in the heats.
And with her new national record 22.57s finish that took her to said semi finals, Pereira made history (again) by becoming the first Singaporean to qualify for the 200m event at the Olympics, thus making it to the Olympics on merit for the first time in her career.
Pereira’s road to Paris hasn’t been the smoothest, with a stress injury to her Fibula forcing the sprinter to withdraw from two major meets in the lead up to the Olympics. While an Olympic gold medal is still far out in the horizon for Pereira, the sheer progress the 27-year-old has made and the countless records broken warrants all eyes to be on the sprinter this summer as she slingshots herself out of the blocks.
Terry Hee and Jessica Tan Wei Han - Badminton
Back in May at the press conference before the KFF Badminton Singapore Open, the husband and wife duo were not yet aware of whether or not they would qualify for the Paris Olympics. An hour or so after, the news was out — Terry Hee and Jessica Tan became the first local-born Singaporean mixed doubles pair to ever qualify for the prestigious tournament.
It was in 2022, when the pair became a formidable force on the court. Hee and Tan won their first BWF Super 500 event (third tier of BWF events), the India Open before also winning the Orleans Masters in March.
Then, came the Birmingham Commonwealth Games that same year where history was made. Not only were the two part of the bronze-winning Singapore team that competed in the team event, Hee and Tan won Singapore’s first ever Commonwealth Games mixed doubles gold in the individual event.
It’s hard to ignore though, that the pair are up against tough opposition in their group. Hee and Tan have second seeds Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping (World no.2) to beat.
And on opening day, the duo is set to face Malaysia’s Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei (World No. 9). Despite the Malaysian pair being nine spots higher in the world rankings, interestingly, Hee and Tan’s current coach Paulus Firman previously helped in Chen’s and Toh’s development. How much of an impact that may have on the game? We’ll only know when the four shuttlers take to the court at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena.
Izaac Quek - Table Tennis
Surely we remember what we were all doing at 18, and none of it involved competing at the Olympics. That’s not the case for Izaac Quek though, who booked his ticket to his first Olympic Games by clinching gold at the Southeast Asian Regional Qualification Tournament and is the youngest Singaporean-born male to ever step out for Singapore at the Olympics.
Quek had been making waves from way before. In the 2023 SEA Games, then 17, the paddler swept the gold medals, earning one in the Men’s Singles and another in the doubles and the Men’s Team event. Back in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games the year prior, Quek and his team won the silver medal.
The young paddler has also seen domination on the world stage. In 2021, Quek bagged third place in the U15 Boys’ Singles and Doubles at the ITTF World Youth Championships and was the former world no.1 in the age group. Two years later at 16, he became the first Singaporean male to ever win a main-draw match at the WTT Singapore Smash when he defeated then Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal Achanta.
Having taken down numerous world-class table tennis players ranked much higher (including former champions), it’s not too far off to say the paddler might just turn heads and have a valiant run in Paris.
Loh Kean Yew - Badminton
He’s no stranger to being on top of the world. In 2021, Loh Kean Yew became the first Singaporean to win the Men’s Singles title at the BWF World Championships — a feat that earned him a water salute upon his return to Changi Airport.
Then 24 years old, Loh was unseeded in the tournament held in Huelva, Spain, shocking the badminton community when he knocked world number one and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen out in the first round. In a fairytale run, Loh made it all the way to the finals despite a badly sprained ankle, and beat Srikanth Kidambi in two straight sets to the title.
Although the shuttler made it to five finals after the 2021 World Championships, Loh fell into a title drought, which only ended in March 2024 where he won the Madrid Masters Men’s Singles title.
In 2017, Loh declared his dream of winning an Olympic gold medal for Singapore one day. Having made his Olympic debut in 2020 at the Tokyo Games, where he crashed out in a tough group stage, Loh will be setting his eyes on making it out of the group stages this time.
The tenth seed will be a favourite to progress, as he is grouped with Czech Republic’s Jan Louda and Salvadoran Uriel Canjura.
Letitia and Levenia Sim, Quah Jing Wen and Gan Ching Hwee - Swimming
It’s been a list of firsts and record-breaking athletes, and it’ll end off as that too. Letitia and Levenia Sim, Quah Jing Wen and Gan Ching Hwee will take to the Olympics Aquatic Center in Saint Denis as Singapore’s first ever swimming relay team to qualify for the Olympics on merit.
The team originally comprised two sets of sisters — the Sims and the Quahs, as Jing Wen’s older sister, Quah Ting Wen was set to feature in the relay having been part of the team when the quartet qualified. However, due to Gan receiving an invitation to the Olympics having met the “B” Cut Olympic Consideration Time, the veteran Quah sister was controversially dropped from the team and replaced by Gan, who also specialises in freestyle.
Despite the controversy, calls have been made by both the Singapore Aquatics and the athletes within the team to continue cheering for the quartet. After all, the Parisian summer will mark the Olympic debuts for all four swimmers, and that is a special feat in itself.
The original quartet including Ting Wen qualified back at the World Aquatics Championships, where the pairs of sisters earned a spot in the Paris Olympics by finishing ninth overall in the 4x100 medley relay. It was a special moment for the team, who were disqualified in the 2023 SEA Games final of the same event after initially clinching a bronze medal.
After all the adversity, the team has finally made it to perhaps the most prestigious and important major game there is, and that warrants a celebration once we see the first of the four swimmers hit the pool.
Apart from the 4x100m medley relay, both Letitia and Gan will be competing in their own individual events. Letitia, 21, will feature in the 100m and 200m breastroke — events in which she holds the national records.
The older Sim sister qualified for the Olympics after having met the “A” cut with her time of 1:06.36 in the 100m breaststroke at the Japan Open in November last year.
At the 2023 SEA Games alone, the 21-year-old clinched four gold medals and finished fourth at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Similarly, Gan also bagged four gold medals at the games, dominating the freestyle events. She did the same in the 2021 Hanoi SEA Games, where the 21-year-old swept the golds in four freestyle events.
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