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Speeches

PRESIDENT SNOC’S REPORT AT THE SNOC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 30 JUNE 2008, AT THE SINGAPORE YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES ORGANISING COMMITTEE MEETING HALL

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the SNOC Annual General Meeting 2008.

1. Another year has passed very quickly. Before you know it we are just 38 days from the start of the Beijing Olympics.
   
2. The games will have special significance for all of us here because of the extra effort that we are putting in through Project 0812. We wish our athletes all the best at the Games in August.
   
3. Let me now deliver my report for the work year 2007/08.
   
4. 2007/08 was another good year. Our athletes did very well at the 24th South East Asian Games 2007 in Thailand. And we made news with Singapore securing the bid for the Youth Olympic Games 2010, which I will elaborate on later in my report.
  24th South East Asian Games
5. At the 24th South East Asian Games held in Thailand from the 6 to 15 December 2007 we were represented by 432 athletes and 214 officials in 35 out of the 44 sports disciplines in the competition.
   
6. We garnered 127 medals, comprising 43 gold, 43 silver and 41 bronzes. This is our best showing in the SEA Games outside Singapore, and it surpasses our previous best performance in the Philippines in 2005.
   
7. Overall, we finished 5th out of 11 nations in the final medal tally for the Games.
   
8. This good showing meant that we gave out MAP Awards totaling $520,000 to the athletes who won gold medals from eleven sports.
  Workshops and Briefings for Team Managers, Officials and athletes
9. Workshops and briefings for team managers, officials and athletes are now a regular feature for all major Games, and these were similarly conducted for our SEA Games athletes and officials.
  STAC Visits
10. The STAC team visited the NSAs and athletes as they made their preparations for the SEA Games. You can read in the Annual Report how much ground the STAC visits had covered.
   
11. The STAC visits may appear repetitive year in year out, but officials and management committees of NSAs do change, and sometimes quite often.
   
12. The STAC visits are crucial for at least two reasons. They signal the importance that SNOC places on the ongoing training and preparation that NSAs and athletes are making for the Games.

Secondly they provide an opportunity for the SNOC and the NSAs to align their goals and objectives so that there are no surprises when it comes to key issues such as selection criteria, and the preparation and track record that SNOC wants to see when it makes its selection decisions.
   
13. The STAC visits will continue to be conducted for all our Games.
  Affiliation of NSAs with SNOC
14. Three new NSAs were affiliated as associate members. They are the Singapore Weiqi Association, Amateur Muaythai Association of Singapore and the Singapore Xiangqi General Association.
   
15. The Singapore Underwater Federation was de-affiliated for not paying their subscription despite many reminders.
  NSA representation in SNOC Executive Committee
16. At this juncture I would like to thank Mrs Jessie Phua (Singapore Bowling Federation) and Mr Oon Jin Gee (Singapore Swimming Association) for serving as your NSA representatives in the SNOC Executive Committee for the past year.
   
17. We will later have our election for your NSA representatives to sit in SNOC for this workyear.
   
18. We will continue to have Mr Tan Soo Nan, the Chief Executive of Singapore Totalisator Board, Mr Oon Jin Teik CEO, SSC and Dr Ben Tan the Chairman of the Athletes’ Commission (AC) co-opted to our Executive Committee.
   
19. The Chairman of the Athletes’ Commission is elected by his fellow AC members, and the AC members themselves are elected by our athletes at the SEA Games once every four years. The next AC election is due at the SEA Games 2009.
  Anti-Doping
20. It was a busy year for the SNOC Anti-Doping in Sports Commission. It conducted 110 dope tests in 7 competitions and 2 out-of-competition exercises. There were two positive tests. Both of these were from a foreign competitor at the FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup Championship which was held in Singapore.
   
21. The Commission also had an exercise to update and certify local Doping Control Officers (DCOs). In a workshop in October 2007, 19 participants comprising volunteers from the Health Sciences Authority, Changi General Hospital, Alexandra Hospital, Singapore Athletics Association and Singapore Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation attended. 13 DCOs were awarded certification which keeps them current for two years. The remaining 6 will be certified when they have gained sufficient practical experience.
   
22. I understand the Commission will be building up its pool of DCOs this workyear, with the view of supporting the Asian Youth Games in 2009 and the Youth Olympic Games 2010.
  SNOC Athletes’ Commission (AC)
23. The Athletes Career Program (ACP), a joint project between SNOC and Adecco, Singapore is fully operational now.
   
24. The project aims to assist the athlete make the transition from the sporting world to the work-place. ACP has placed one or two elite athletes into the job market already, but more importantly it has provided some current elite athletes with the training and knowledge to help them cope with their concerns of what happens when they stop competing.
   
25. They help our athletes address concerns such as:

  • What job will complement my training schedule?
  • What work experience can I get that will help me when I retire from sports?
  • What do I want to do after my sporting career is over?
  • Where do I start searching for employment?
    		•
       
    26. Some of the key programmes offered in the Athletes’ Career Programme include career counselling, resume writing skills, interviewing skills, on-line assessment and training, and mentoring support.
       
    27. ACP is fully flexible, and therefore its services can be tailored specifically to meet the needs of different athletes with varied backgrounds, competition requirements and training schedules. More importantly ACP is offered at no cost to the athletes, so NSAs please make full use of it for your athletes. You can find more details of it in the SNOC website, or contact Athletes’ Commission committee member James Wong or Sec Gen, SNOC.
      Project 0812
    28. At last year’s AGM I reported on Project 0812, our quest to win Singapore’s next Olympic Games medal. MCYS, SSC and SNOC had identified 29 athletes from four sports namely badminton, shooting, sailing and table tennis to be on this project, geared initially towards the Beijing Olympic Games 2008.
       
    29. Now, two years after its launch and on the eve of the Beijing Olympic Games, I am happy to report that 14 athletes from the four sports have qualified for the Games on their merits.

     For shooting Lee Wung Yew is the first Singapore shooter to qualify for the Olympic Games (he had participated in the previous Olympic Games through invitation, that is via a wild card), and the sailors are also the first Singaporeans to qualify for the Olympic Games in the 470 men and Laser Radial classes.
       
    30. Our Project 0812 athletes will now approach the Beijing Olympic Games with confidence and optimism to challenge for medals. If they are able to perform at their best, winning medals is a real possibility.
       
    31. After the Beijing Olympic Games we will sit down to draw on the lesson learnt to help us prepare better for the London Olympic Games 2012.
      Youth Olympic Games (YOG) 2010
    32. It was in May last year when we first dared to dream of hosting the Youth Olympic Games 2010. In June, SNOC met with the 26 NSAs of the Summer Olympic Games sports to gather your feedback on the feasibility of hosting the Youth Games.
       
    33. Singapore was greatly honoured, when on 21st February 2008, IOC President Jacque Rogge announced in Lausanne that Singapore had won the bid to host the inaugural Youth Olympic Games 2010. The news was received with great jubilation by everyone in Singapore.
       
    34. Who in his wildest dreams would have thought that one day the youths of the world would gather on our shores to enjoy the fellowship of sports and compete in an Olympic Games?
       
    35. We were able to win this honour, thanks to the hard work of so many of you who gave your support for it, who assisted in the preparation of the bid document and who helped lobby for our bid.
       
    36. But the real work has begun to deliver the Games. For the Summer or Winter Olympics, the time between choosing the host city and the games itself is seven years. For this inaugural YOG, we have less than three years. So it is going to be really hard work for the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee.

    With no time to lose, we will need your whole-hearted support to deliver a Games that we can all be proud of. All of us who have been there for many Games, know what makes the difference in any Games is not the grandeur of the facilities, but the warmth and friendliness of the people who welcome the athletes and help them to feel at home and do their best.
       
    37. I am confident that with your support, we will be ready to host the youth of the world in the very first Youth Olympic Games come August 2010.
       
    38. Before ending, I wish to thank Singapore Totalisator Board and Singapore Pools the main sponsors of the SNOC’s programmes and activities, including the sponsorship of Team Singapore to the Games and its MAP awards. Without their understanding and support the sporting fraternity in Singapore would not have achieved so much. So, join me in thanking them.
       
    39. I would also like to thank all our other SNOC sponsors and partners. Each one of them is acknowledged in the SNOC Annual Report on pages 31 and 32. Finally, I would like to thank all of you, from the SSC, the NSAs, officials and athletes at the Games, and the many volunteers who have worked hard throughout the year, for making 2007/08 another successful sporting year for Singapore.
       
      Thank you
       
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