Singapore has sent athletes to most
Summer Olympic Games held since
1948, when it was established as a separate British
Crown Colony from the
Straits Settlements just over three months before the commencement of the
1948 Summer Olympics. It continued to send a team to the Games until
1964 when Singapore was part of
Malaysia, which sent a combined team. Upon Singapore's full independence from Malaysia in 1965, the country continued to participate in all subsequent editions of the Summer Games except in
1980 when the country participated in a large
Olympic boycott. No athletes from Singapore have competed in any
Winter Olympic Games.
The country has won two
Olympic medal, one in the
1960 Summer Games, and one at the
2008 Summer Games.
The first medal was won by
Tan Howe Liang, who won a silver medal in lightweight weightlifting in
1960.
In
table tennis,
Jing Jun Hong and
Li Jiawei came close to winning medals by finishing in fourth place at the
2000 Sydney Olympics and
2004 Athens Olympics respectively. Singapore sent a big contingent to the Beijing Olympics, and many feel that with many 'home' players in Singapore's squad, this was their best chance of winning a medal since 1960, and they were proved right.
In the
2008 Beijing Olympics,
Li, together with
Feng Tianwei and
Wang Yuegu, beat the
South Korea Women's Table Tennis team, composed of
Dang Ye Seo,
Kim Kyung Ah and
Park Mi Young 3-2 in the semi-finals, assuring Singapore of at least a silver medal,...
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