TR EMERITUS

By Amy Shipley from Washington Post USA Swimming is devoting unprecedented resources to its youth national team, but you won’t see a single U.S. swimmer in Singapore next August for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, a grand, global event designed to mimic the real Olympic Games for boys between ages 16-18 and girls 15-17. With the expectation that the first Youth Games would be more about promoting friendship and peace than real competition, and knowing the U.S. Olympic Committee would not be able to send athletes in every sport because of caps on delegation size, USA Swimming offered to sit out the global event, USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus said. “The Youth Olympics … is really set up more as a world-youth peace and educational program than it is as a high-level competition,” Wielgus said. “We went to the USOC and said we would volunteer not to go … We’ve invested heavily in our youth team. We have a four-year plan for our youth team program, and this meet is not part of that plan.” No snub, Wielgus said, was intended. Wielgus said USA Swimming would direct its elite youngsters to seek qualification for either the senior Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, Calif., in August, or the junior Pan Pacs in Maui, Hawaii. Many youth team members are also expected to compete in the Mel Zajac Jr. Swim Meet next May in Vancouver, B.C. Even if USA Swimming wanted to participate in the event conceived by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, it would be allowed to send only four boys and four girls in swimming as per rules limiting entrants. And the USOC, which sent more than 600 participants to the Beijing Summer Games,  is limited to sending a total of about 100 competitors — 70 individual athletes along with two teams. Cycling and shooting have also decided not to attend. “We will have some [national governing bodies] that will not be represented, swimming being one of them,” USOC spokesperson Lindsay DeWall said in an e-mail.  “In order to make these difficult decisions, our Sport Partnerships Division worked with each NGB, focusing on their pipeline development. This provided us with greater insight as to which NGBs the [Youth Olympic Games] are more important than others. ” Last year, USA Swimming allocated $2 million its youth program through 2012 and hired a full-time youth team coach, Jack Roach, to try to increase high-level training and competitive opportunities for its up-and-coming stars. - Washington Post  Read More →

From our Correspondent Miss Singapore World first runner-up Miss Claire Lee, who was unfairly accused by dethroned winner Miss Ris Low of leaking to the press news about her probation has gamely put the unhappy episode behind her and flown off to Bangkok today to do charity work. Miss Lee had endured a difficult time during the past few days after the Sunday Times published an interview with Miss Ris Low who levelled unsubstantiated allegations against her. Besides blaming Claire for causing her to lose her crown, Ris also claimed that she was faking her "back injury" to save herself from the embarrassment if she was not chosen by the organizers to replace her. Choking with tears, Miss Lee told CNA yesterday: “I’m being accused of things I didn’t do. People now think I did it to take the title, but that’s not true … I don’t want to be involved anymore.” Miss Maureen Koh of The New Paper has earlier clarified that it wasn't Miss Lee who tipped them off about Ris' conviction and 24 months of probation for credit card fraud. (read full article here) However, the Chinese tabloids still chose to go ahead and repeat Ris' allegations. Writing on her personal blog "Claire of all trades", Miss Lee wrote: "I thank those who believed in me and supported me... For those who doubted me, its all right, because it boils down to perception. You believe what you want to believe.....It matters most to me that people who know me well know what are the kind of things I will do and what are the kind of things I won't do. Besides, I don't want to be Miss Singapore World. I want to be Claire, the friend that everyone knew and the daughter my parents had. Probably Claire of all trades need to drop something from the list: representing Singapore." [Source: http://www.claireofalltrades.blogspot.com/] Expressing a tinge of regret for not being able to represent Singapore in the competition, she added: "Too bad I can't tell the world what a great country Singapore is. How Marymount Convent School was a great primary school that laid my foundation for Secondary School education. And Cedar Girls', the school I came from, that moulded my strong headed and extroverted character and taught me the three most important values in my life: Honesty, Perserverance and Courtesy. Claire also reiterated that she is only defending herself and she will not take revenge or continue the nonsense. She has since flew off to Bangkok to do charity work with the Poh Tech Tung Foundation. The foundation is founded and supported by Thai Chinese living in Thailand. They do rescue work and charity. There are many dead bodies in Thailand that are left unclaimed because they have no family or friends to claim them. These bodies can't be buried since no one is going to pay for their funeral and so they are frozen in a large freezer room. A devout Buddhist, Miss Lee has been donating coffins for these dead bodies to enable them to be buried. Now that the truth is out and seeing how Miss Lee has conducted herself in the entire saga with such grace, dignity and maturity, Singaporeans should have reached a conclusion by now the ideal candidate to represent Singapore in the Miss Singapore World beauty pageant to be held in South Africa at the end of the year. As Ms Maureen Koh of TNP puts it succinctly: "Real beauty, as they says, is not in the face, but a light in the heart." If there's a silver lining in all the negative media publicity that we had been bombarded with over the last two weeks, it would be the strength, fortitude and magnaminity displayed by Miss Lee which prevented the ugly fracas from degenerating further into a public cat-fight and making Singaporeans the laughing stock of the world. Thanks Claire for showing Singaporeans the light in your heart.   Related articles: >> Claire Lee: "I don't intend to represent Singapore" >> Claire Lee rebukes Ris Low's allegations on her blog >> Ris Low accuses Claire Lee of backstabbing her   EDITORS’ NOTE: If you like our work and would like to support us, please transfer your donations via paypal to our account ([email protected]). Any amount will be greatly appreciated! Alternatively, you can also help boost our advertising revenue by clicking on the ads displayed. Thank you! Join our tweet at: http://www.twitter.com/temasekreview  Read More →

From our Correspondent The PAP's representative and losing candidate in the last general elections Mr Eric Low was rapped for stealing the limelight of Hougang's legitimate Member of Parliament Mr Low Thia Kiang of the Workers' Party! Mr Eric Low had earlier claimed credit for bringing the Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP) to the residents living in the constituency. In a press statement released to the state media, he attributed Hougang being selected for the LUP to his "relentless and unyielding" efforts: “Though I was not elected, I have been trying hard to lobby the authorities including National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan to upgrade the lifts in Hougang. Now that the lifts will finally be ugraded, I am extremely satisfied about it.” An irate Singaporean, Mr Muhammad Yusuf wrote a scathing piece to the Straits Times Forum today lampooning Mr Eric Low and Mr Sitoh Yih Pin, the PAP's grassroots leader in Potong Pasir for announcing the news of LUP. (read letter here) He wrote: "Mr Low justified his announcement of the programme by saying it was the usual practice, even in PAP wards, for the grassroots adviser to lead the programme. My question: Under what authority did both Mr Low and Mr Sitoh act as advisers to the grassroots organisations, given that the People's Association is a government statutory board and should work with the elected MPs of the constituencies?" Mr Yusuf also questioned why HDB choose to work with unelected candidates instead of the elected MPs in the constituencies. HDB is supposedly a "non-partisan" and "non-political" agency under the purview of the Singapore government. It is strange that they chose to liaise directly with the PAP grassroots leaders without any proper titles or positions instead of the rightful MPs in charge of the ward. As Mr Yusuf puts it succinctly: "The proper protocol would have been to have the elected MPs act as grassroots advisers and announce such programmes." Though the two wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang are managed by opposition MPs, the ruling party still controls the purse-strings of the state and hence they are in a position to dish out "pork" in the form of estate upgrading to entice the electorate to vote for them during the elections. In the 2006 general elections, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong dangled a $100 million upgrading carrot to Hougang residents. They did not bite it and returned Mr Low Thia Kiang to parliament with an increased margin of votes. Since his ignonimous defeat, Mr Eric Low had slapped a fee on his previously free health-screening programme and stopped his Meet-The-People sessions and popular free breakfast service for the needy and now he is trying to woo Hougang residents again by claiming credit for bringing LUP to them. Despite losing at the polls, the PAP still behaves as if Hougang is their constituency by conducting grassroots events and activities for its residents alongside the Workers' Party to undermine the latter's work. Banners depicting the smiling face of Mr Eric Low and bearing the PAP's insignia are ubiquitous throughout Hougang while that of its MP are conspicuous by their absence. An unsuspecting visitor to Hougang may mistakened it to be a PAP ward. Mr Eric Low's latest attention-seeking antics obviously did not go down well with netizens. Tong Chee Kien wrote: "SOP practice. Good news will always come through their mouth, and as if their effort to cause this to happen. Then again it shows garmen open up as this is pissing people off more than it does good for them." Dave Lim added: "The 'grassroots' organisations is a sham, in that they are NOT bi=partisan, but largely PAP devices, serving as intelligence gatherers and municipal councillors for the PAP." With the electorate becoming more and more astute, educated and sophisticated, the ruling party will encounter an uphill task in repeating its thuggish tactics such as use of defamation lawsuits to cripple its opponents in the next election. What are your views on this matter? Do you think Mr Eric Low has undermined the authority of Mr Low Thia Kiang by announcing the LUP instead of passing the news to him to announce as a form of basic courtesy? Please email us your thoughts to: [email protected] Comment source: ST Discussion Board   Related article: >> Eric Low claimed credit for bringing LUP to Hougang   EDITORS’ NOTE: If you like our work and would like to support us, please transfer your donations via paypal to our account ([email protected]). Any amount will be greatly appreciated! Alternatively, you can also help boost our advertising revenue by clicking on the ads displayed. Thank you! Join our tweet at: http://www.twitter.com/temasekreview  Read More →