rohit brijnath writing for the straits times saying exactly what i think about the inverted attitude in singapore towards schooling.
“We talk of a Schooling medal as if, well, it’s inevitable; his coach talks of it, one senses, to placate relentless inquiries because how can he say there’s no chance of a medal; even Schooling talks of it as if to not talk of a medal would be construed as unambitious.Headlines, even in this paper, read “No medal but…” and it seemed to imply a medal was very possible, that somehow he had not taken his chance, that therefore he had not met expectation. But Schooling’s best times this year prior to the worlds ranked him at 16th (50m butterfly), 23rd (100m butterfly) and 12th (200m butterfly). It is a long way from third.
To talk of a medal is to distract from the process which is to go faster - and he has. Last year he was faster than anyone at the Asian Games in the 100m butterfly. This week he was faster than any Asian has gone in the 50m butterfly. Ranked 16th, he finished seventh in Kazan. It was worth a celebration without a but. […] Our desperation cannot become his pressure; our need to be sportingly relevant should not be his burden. If we fixate on the summit we might forget to delight in every step and stumble a young man makes towards it.”
Best of the Transparent Hummingbird