Singapore Has..........

[ozchick]

Oh my Lordy me ! Can't believe people get so stressed cos of the degree of 'Singaporeanism' of the medal winner ! Can't we just rejoice about this guys ?! Jeezaloo, coming from Oz where everybody is from somewhere else one could argue that no Aussie has ever won a medal for anything ! Look at Mark Phillipoussis the tennis player- I mean he is to all intents and purposes a Greek but he's still an Aussie. Micahel Klim the swimmer is hardly an Aussie but we're still thrilled to have him as our own.
Hey I was in Rome a few years back when a bartender asked me where I was from. When I told him Australia he said, " Well yeah I know that but where did you home from before that?!"
Rejloice and be glad my children ! I just love this Singapore win !

[Wind In My Hair]

I prefer my analogy. It is more succinct and gets the point across just the same. Nor does it assume a foreigner is naturally better. If you have lived abroad for any period of time, you will realise that almost all of these 'native-English speaking teachers' are just bored middle class white men looking for a paid holiday. And most of them can barely string a coherent sentence together, much less be a qualified language teacher.

Are you telling me that everything should have a dollar value? Are you an accountant? Or a mercenary? Or do you have so little faith in your own countrymen that without a bought medal, we will never be able to compete on that level? I didn't think so but I've been wrong before.

Is that buzz worth the millions spent? The dissatisfaction felt by a not inconsiderable segment of the population? Or is your value system THE value system to be adopted by all?

Am I happy that we got a medal? To some extent, yes. But I'm also not foolish enough to think it can only be a good thing.

For a 'succinct' person you sure talk a lot! I was looking for a succinct YES / NO answer. If you could, would you undo it right now? No Olympic team, no finals tonight? YES / NO. Choose one.

[banana]

For a 'succinct' person you sure talk a lot! I was looking for a succinct YES / NO answer. If you could, would you undo it right now? No Olympic team, no finals tonight? YES / NO. Choose one.

Wow, you sound like LKY! It's not as simple as that. Saying Yes would imply, under your terms and conditions, that I hate for Singapore to do well. Saying No would mean I am just as superficial as everyone else who thinks a medal is all that matters and that I don't believe anything I said. So I won't answer your question, it's just silly.

Forks and Asdracles explained it differently. Maybe their response is more palatable to you?

[Wind In My Hair]

Wow, you sound like LKY! It's not as simple as that. Saying Yes would imply, under your terms and conditions, that I hate for Singapore to do well. Saying No would mean I am just as superficial as everyone else who thinks a medal is all that matters and that I don't believe anything I said. So I won't answer your question, it's just silly.

It's easy to waffle. Harder to consider all angles and take a stand.

Of course I wish we had home-grown talent. I would root for even you if you were on the team now, believe it or not. However because you and I are unable, somebody had to make a decision whether or not to import a team, rightly or wrongly. It's not an easy decision, but sitting on the fence is worse.

Forks and Asdracles had good posts. I don't know about the other girls but Li Jiawei at least seems genuine about wanting to be a Singaporean. We'll have to wait a few years to see if they jump ship should another country offer to treat them better.

I don't know about you, but tonight I am excited, I am proud to be Singaporean, and I am glad somebody decided to bring the team in and that they decided to come. Got a game to watch now, ta!

[Asdracles]

I found this accross internet:

Here are some quick facts about Feng Tianwei:

* Date of birth - August 31, 1986 (21 years old)
* Born in China
* Came to Singapore in April 2007; received citizenship nine months later in January 2008

Li Jiawei (Chinese: 李佳薇; pinyin: Lǐ Jiāwēi) (born 9 August 1981) is a Singaporean table tennis player who is ranked among the top ten athletes in her sport. Spotted by Singapore talent scouts in Beijing in 1995, she began training in the Republic and commenced her international career in competitive table tennis a year later. She became a Singapore citizen at the age of 18 years.

So as I said in my previous post, I would distinguish.

Li Jiawei has been here for years, and got citizenship after being in the team for 4 years. Feng Tianwei looks like "bought" just one year before the olympiad and got an express nationality.

If they were spanish, I would support Li Jiawei and wouldn't mind too much about the another one. But that's my point of view.

We have another kinda "bought" in the 100m Hurdle women. I don't care about that race, so you can see that my "theory" is nothing against Singapore

[Asdracles]

A german "american" basketball player:

"Kaman is a dual citizen; he is a citizen of the United States and of Germany. His great-grandparents were German, so he acquired German citizenship in July 2008."

Not so spoken about him, as is a Team sport, and Germany is already out, but look how crazy. The guy would never qualify for USA team, his friend Nowitzki asked him to join Germany, and as he has german grandparents, however he had never been there, he doesn't speak language, .... he got the passport just one month before the Olympics!!

Is this fair?? Do you think he feel german??

This is OBVIOULSY a CASE 2

[Vaucluse]

Case ad infinitum, Asdracles . . .

It is the way it is, loopholes are there to be used and rules are there to be bent without being broken . . .

Olympics?





(still watching a bit here and there, though)

[Currymeister]

Yes, because he has German blood, and has every right if he so wishes.

You cannot pigeon hole people so easily. As Ozchick said, we're all from somewhere else at some point, it's just a matter of how far up the family tree you climb.

Situations can allow it. Zola Budd, a very talented teenage middle-distance runner applied for GB citizenship (on the grounds of having a British grandparent) so that she could run for GB in the Olympics due to not being able to compete internationally because of the apartheid policies of the South African government.

Buying athletes for the purpose of Olympic success though isn't really on and I agree with those against it.

[banana]

It's easy to waffle. Harder to consider all angles and take a stand.

Of course I wish we had home-grown talent. I would root for even you if you were on the team now, believe it or not. However because you and I are unable, somebody had to make a decision whether or not to import a team, rightly or wrongly. It's not an easy decision, but sitting on the fence is worse.

Forks and Asdracles had good posts. I don't know about the other girls but Li Jiawei at least seems genuine about wanting to be a Singaporean. We'll have to wait a few years to see if they jump ship should another country offer to treat them better.

I don't know about you, but tonight I am excited, I am proud to be Singaporean, and I am glad somebody decided to bring the team in and that they decided to come. Got a game to watch now, ta!

Yeah I actually turned on the TV and watched the game up till now. Crazy what waffling about a topic can do.

Now, if you had actually read my posts instead of going on a "he is a man, his opinion must be shot down" crusade, you would have noticed I said I'm happy for Singapore to win the medal, be it silver or gold. Difference being some people, including myself, see national representation as more than medal harvesting.

As Asdracles said, Li Jiawei would qualify as a true Singaporean athlete. You will notice I didn't jump in support of our more myopic brethren regarding the "flag dragging" nonsense. Feng Tianwei on the other hand, is a little more iffy.

Glad I'm watching the match though. Li Jiawei is kinda cute.

[Wind In My Hair]

Now, if you had actually read my posts instead of going on a "he is a man, his opinion must be shot down" crusade

The glaring loophole in your logic is that if you were right, I'd be arguing with every male here. But I'm not. Nice try, but don't pin this on a gender bias. And you really need to work on your logic.

As Asdracles said, Li Jiawei would qualify as a true Singaporean athlete. You will notice I didn't jump in support of our more myopic brethren regarding the "flag dragging" nonsense. Feng Tianwei on the other hand, is a little more iffy.

And if you had actually read my posts, you will notice that I was the first to say Li Jiawei was genuine about being a Singaporean, based on Asdracles' point.

Glad I'm watching the match though. Li Jiawei is kinda cute.

I think she's single. And now, rich. Go for it.

[Vaucluse]

WIMH, are you arguing with me?

[Wind In My Hair]

WIMH, are you arguing with me?

Depends. Are you a man?

[Vaucluse]

WIMH, are you arguing with me?

Depends. Are you a man?

I take longer than ten seconds.

[banana]

Careful! She's got her heckles up!

[Wind In My Hair]

Careful! She's got her heckles up!

Oh purleese. You can't get anything of mine up. Or down, for that matter. You just can't. Period.

I take longer than ten seconds.

Ah, a real man. Then I suppose we must fight. Can't let the crusade down can I? Draw your sword!

(Er, what shall we argue about?)