Today was the closing ceremony of the SEA Games in Singapore and I've been following the Games religiously every day except for a few d...

SEA Games 2015

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Today was the closing ceremony of the SEA Games in Singapore and I've been following the Games religiously every day except for a few days when I came home too late after work and outings to catch the highlights on tv.

I love to watch major sporting events like the SEA Games and Olympics... it is with greatest regret that I never made time to watch any of the sporting events live this year. Especially since it's held on home ground. Like.. I really regretted so much so that yesterday I almost wanted to make a last ditch attempt to get some tix to watch water polo/ badminton hahahaha. But none of my friends wanna watch leh? Only Sarah Thiam, who offered me a ticket for women's basketball but I was already occupied with something. And the only other person I can think of is my dad?!?! Who watches the highlights together with me and cries in delight/agony whenever Singapore loses or wins. Every day, my family would update each other on who won Gold etc, etc. And wow, this year, Singapore really gave a good showing man. 84 Gold medals.

Partly why I love watching these games is also because.. I'm suppppeerrr envious of national athletes?! They have the opportunity to represent the nation in their sport and bring glory to their country's name. That's something I would have the absolute honour of doing! Of course it doesn't come easy either... I have so much admiration for athletes. So so so much. The amount of sacrifice they put in for their sport and their country. It's insane. I can't even fathom.

So when I saw how Muhammed Nur Alfian Juma'en shed tears while singing the national anthem after winning Gold for Pencak Silat, I could truly feel it....





And my goosebumps will never ever fail to appear whenever I see him cry and other amazing moments during the Games. It's insane... I just can never imagine what's running through their minds when they know they've triumphed and overcome so much while training so hard for their wins. The times they've failed and now succeeded. They finally got to taste victory after months and years of hard work. Sigh, everybody is a sucker for such stories.

What's interesting in this Games for me personally is that I had a chance to meet some of the athletes because they.. guess what? Came to makan at Podi. I think their hotel is Swissotel, which is right beside Raffles City where I work. So, when I knew that they were national athletes judging by the shirts they wore, I'd chirp an "All the best" before they leave. I met Dipna - wow major girl-fanning alright. So tall and lean and argh beautiful. I met an 800m track and field runner too who said that the Games was "intimidating" - she was gonna run for her event the next day.

I also met a group of 5 female athletes who ordered, I remember, truffle fries to share and one had eggs benny for breakfast hahahahahah. My colleague and I were guessing which sport they played. "Definitely not track and field", my runner colleague said coz apparently their legs were too thin. Swimmers? Yeah probably. I went up to ask them and they said happily, "Water Polo!" and I replied, "Ahhhh... no wonder." I met them when they were still competing during the preliminary rounds so they were quite relaxed still. Sadly, as we know now, they narrowly missed out on their Gold to Thailand. If I knew then, what I know now.....

But well, we win some, we lose some. What a fantastic Games it was! And organised/hosted by us so well. So proud, so proud.


p/s I'm digging the Songs of the Games. I never thought I would. But they have slowly grown on to me over the past few days..... gotta get them on iTunes eh?


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