Mark Chay Jung Jun (simplified Chinese: 蔡荣俊; born 18 February 1982) is a Singaporean freestyle swimmer who has represented the Republic in, amongst others, the

SEA Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

and

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

. His international swimming career began at the 1997 SEA Games, and stretched all the way till the 2005 SEA Games. In between, he has competed in a total of five SEA Games, two Asian Games, two Commonwealth Games and two Olympics. He has been awarded "Singapore Sportsboy of the Year" in 2000, and Sportsman of the Year in 2001. Chay competed and studied at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU). Provo lies between the ...

. He was the Mountain West Conference Champion. Chay graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Communications: Communications studies emphasis. Chay retired from swimming in July 2007.

Political career

On 14 January 2021, Chay was chosen as one of the 9

Nominated Members of Parliament A Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) is a member of the Parliament of Singapore who is appointed by the president. They are not affiliated to any political party and do not represent any constituency. There are currently nine NMPs in the P ...

(NMP) for the

14th Parliament of Singapore The 14th Parliament of Singapore is the current Parliament of Singapore. It opened on 24 August 2020. The membership was set by the 2020 Singapore General Election on 10 July 2020. The 14th Parliament is controlled by the People's Action Party ...

, which began on 21 January 2021. After his appointment was announced, Chay said that he intends to speak on sports as an agent of social change and a way to unify a nation, prompted by the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

on Singapore's sports scene. In addition, Chay plans to speak on economic issues too.

References

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External links

* * * * 1982 births Living people Singaporean male freestyle swimmers Anglo-Chinese School alumni Asian Games competitors for Singapore BYU Cougars men's swimmers Commonwealth Games competitors for Singapore Competitors at the 1997 Southeast Asian Games Olympic swimmers of Singapore Singaporean Nominated Members of Parliament Singaporean people of Chinese descent Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games gold medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games medalists in swimming Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for Singapore Swimmers at the 1998 Asian Games Swimmers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2002 Asian Games Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 21st-century Singaporean people {{Singapore-swimming-bio-stub