Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
has sent athletes to most
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 ina ...
held since 1948, when it was established as a separate British Crown Colony from the
Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Co ...
just over three months before the commencement of the 1948 Summer Olympics. It continued to send a team to the Games until
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
when Singapore was part of
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, 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 Olympics except in
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning Syst ...
when the country participated in a large
Olympic boycott
The Olympic Games is a major international multi-sport event. During its history, there have been full boycotts on six occasions, all of them at Summer Olympics: the first boycott occurred at the 1956 Summer Olympics, with the most recent being a ...
. Singapore made their
Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...
debut at the
2018 Winter Olympics
The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...
, with speed skater, Cheyenne Goh, competing in the
short track speed skating
Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the same size as a ...
event. Ethnic Chinese from Singapore had also competed for
China at the Olympics
Originally having participated in Olympics as the delegation of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1924 (Summer Olympics) to 1976 (Winter Olympics), China competed at the Olympic Games under the name of the People's Republic of China (PRC) for ...
as part of their football team, namely Chua Boon Lay in 1936, and
Chia Boon Leong
Chia Boon Leong (, 1 January 1925 – 20 December 2022) was a Singaporean footballer who competed for China in the 1948 Summer Olympics and for Singapore at the 1954 Asian Games. He was known as "twinkletoes" in the football scene.
Chia was bor ...
and Chu Chee Seng in 1948.
Under the Major Games Award Programme by the Singapore National Olympics Council, individual gold, silver and bronze medalists are awarded , and respectively. Team Event and Team Sport medalists are awarded different amounts for each medal type.
Performance
The country has won five
Olympic medal
An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid ou ...
s, the inaugural was at the
1960 Summer Olympics
The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...
Tan Howe Liang
Tan Howe Liang, (; born 5 May 1933 in Shantou, Guangdong, China) is a Singaporean weightlifter who was the first Singaporean to win an Olympic Games medal. He did this in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome where he won the silver medal in the ...
, who won silver in lightweight weightlifting in
1960
It is also known as the " Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* J ...
. The first Olympic gold medal was won by
Joseph Schooling
Joseph Isaac Schooling (born 16 June 1995) is a Singaporean professional swimmer who specialises in butterfly, freestyle and medley events. He was the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics, achieving Singapore's first ever ...
table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
,
Jing Junhong
Jing Junhong, also stylized as Jing Jun Hong (; born October 13, 1968), is a Chinese-born Singaporean former professional table tennis player. Born in Shanghai, she was a highly ranked player in China before she moved to Singapore with her husb ...
,
Li Jiawei
Li Jiawei (; born 9 August 1981) is a retired Chinese-born former Singaporean table tennis player, four-time Olympian and twice Olympic medalist. She trained in Beijing's famous Shichahai Sports School with Olympic medalist Zhang Yining. In ...
and
Yu Mengyu
Yu Mengyu (; born 18 August 1989) is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player. Born in Liaoning, China, Yu left China in 2006 at the age of 17 to join the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA).
She was part of the team that ...
came close to winning medals by finishing in fourth place for the women's singles events at the
2000 Sydney Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug language, Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport ...
,
2004 Athens Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
and
2020 Tokyo Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...
respectively.
Singapore sent a big contingent to the Beijing Olympics, and many felt that with many top table tennis players in Singapore's squad, this was their best chance of winning a medal since 1960 – they were proven right. In the
2008 Beijing Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...
, Li Jiawei, together with
Feng Tianwei
Feng Tianwei (, ) is a Singaporean table tennis player. Born in Harbin, China, she permanently moved to Singapore at the age of 20 under the former Foreign Sports Talent Scheme in March 2007 and commenced her international career in competit ...
and
Wang Yuegu
Wang Yuegu (, ; born 10 June 1980) is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player who was ranked among the top ten players in the world. Wang made her inaugural appearance as a Singaporean table tennis player on the International Ta ...
Park Mi-Young
Park Mi-Young ( or ; born November 17, 1981 in Daegu, Republic of Korea) is a South Korean table tennis player. She was part of the table tennis team that won a bronze medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Park currently plays for the Samsung Li ...
3–2 in the semi-finals, assuring Singapore of at least a silver medal and ending Singapore's 48-year Olympic medal drought. Singapore faced host China in the gold medal final.
In the
2012 London Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, Feng Tianwei beat
Kasumi Ishikawa
(born 23 February 1993) is a Japanese table tennis player. A regular member of the Japanese national team, she won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, a bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympic ...
from Japan 4–0 in the Table Tennis Women's Singles Bronze Medal Match, winning Singapore's first individual Olympic medal in 52 years. In the Table Tennis Women's Team Bronze Medal Match, Li Jiawei, together with Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu, beat the South Korea team composing Dang Ye-Seo, Kim Kyung-Ah and Seok Ha-Jung 3–0, winning another bronze medal.
The two bronze medals won at the 2012 London Summer Olympics marked the first time that Singapore won more than one medal in an Olympiad.
In the
2016 Rio Olympics
)
, nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams)
, athletes = 11,238
, events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines)
, opening = 5 August 2016
, closing = 21 August 2016
, opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer
, cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...
, Olympic swimmer
Joseph Schooling
Joseph Isaac Schooling (born 16 June 1995) is a Singaporean professional swimmer who specialises in butterfly, freestyle and medley events. He was the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics, achieving Singapore's first ever ...
won a gold medal in the Men's 100 metre butterfly in an Olympics record of 50.39 seconds, becoming the first gold Olympic medallist of Singapore. This was also the first gold medal by a Southeast Asian male swimmer and the first Olympic gold that Singapore achieved.
As of 2021, athletes from Singapore have won a total of 5 medals at the Olympics including 1 gold.