Yesterday Singapore paralympian made history by winning the country's first GOLD medal in the paralympic games in Beijing. Coached by former world champion Ang Peng Siong, she rised above all and went for glory. Beating her nearest opponent by 7 seconds, Pin Xiu become the first ever Gold Medalist in Singapore. Congratulations Singapore! And like all the sports people in the country, she received a sum for money for her achievements.
Which brings me to the issue I would like to bring up. "Why is there so little coverage on the paralympic games"
Shouldn't the world see how awesome this people are? As compared to the 6 extra channels that Starhub provides on top of channel 5 and Channel Us coverage, almost 20 hours a day, the paralympians receive air time summing up to 1 hour a day on Channel 5. I personally feel that we should learn to appreciate what these athletes are doing. when Singapore was playing China in the table tennis finals, there were countless advertisements to seek support from the country. Even PM Lee had to push back the National Day Rally. And yesterday i only found out about Pin Xiu's Gold medal accomplishment through the daily highlights. Just because these people are disabled does not mean that they deserve lesser than us.
I feel that Singapore should learn to be more supportive to their citizens or rather to their representatives. What Say You?
10 comments:
Hmm .. I personally did not hear about this new till I saw something on CNA about it . And I definitely agree with Jerms on this that the media does not give enough attention and coverage to the Paralympic Games .
This will inevitably lead to the question of whether , the Paralympic Games are as high of profile and will draw similar attention to that of the much-watched and followed Olympic Games .
I feel that to say Pin Xiu's achievement does not equal or better the Table Tennis Team in clinching the silver in Beijing , would be downright outrageous and demeaning to the sportswoman and the effort that she put in . Simply because they are disabled does not mean that these athletes are any less than Micheal Phelps or Usain Bolt . In fact , I would go as far as to say that Pin Xiu and her fellow compatriots are more than any able-bodied as the amount of training and effort they have to put in must be doubly hard in order to overcome their disabilities and excel in their sport .
So , Singaporeans should stand up and be proud of the achievement that our very own country-woman has reached .
Mahjulah Singapura !
I couldn agree more when you said that this These Abled people deserve more in terms of respect and recognition from us!
A pity there was not much coverage of the paralympics. Could it be that there is much less revenue to be earned by those involved? For example the sponsors?
Whatever it is, we as Singaporeans should have given more support for our brave sports people! Hopefully the time will come soon when we recognise them as true if not herculean sports people.
I'm glad that jerome came up with this issue. I myself pondered and asked the same question. why wasn't there any media coverage on the paralympics?
I agree with all of you. These special athletes deserve as much, if not more, recognition and support. I think their achievements are much greater than perfectly bodied sportsmen and sportswomen.
However, it's great that there is news coverage on the paralympics. At the very least, it brings about an awareness in Singaporeans.
I feel that the TV broadcasters select broadcasts that will attract more viewers so as to bring up their ratings. Since Olympics is the popular thing going on during that period of time, it receives the most attention and coverage. However, Paralympic is not as popular and TV broadcasters probably feel that it would not attract much of the publics attention and thus decide to give it much lesser airtime and publicity.
may i suggest a softer choice of words, physically challenged vs disabled?
think about this scenario. what would the response of the audience be if you said 'Hey, Singapore won a gold medal at the Paralympics!' and 'Hey, Singapore won a gold medal at the Olympics!'.
the difference in response shows the sad truth how life is: things that are highly advertised and perceived positively will always be more popular. (think advertising of Apple iPod vs Creative Zen, don't both sell the same product genre?)
I agree with you about this .
I personally did not hear anything about the Paralympics until I saw somewhere on TV about what Singapore has gotten in the game . I think if Singapore did not manage to win anything , many of us who isnt so aware of current affairs would not even hear anything about the paralympics .
Whether it is the Olympics or the Paralympics , these people ARE representing our nation . We should show more respect for them . At least let the rest of the nation know more about what these people are doing for Singapore .
Very good points have already been raised here. Since the paralympics are hardly as well known as the Olympics, one would naturally devote more TV time to the latter rather than the former - more people would watch it and thus generating more moolah!
It takes time and effort to establish something that is not well known. Currently it seems that nobody is making the push to help the paralympics or the physically challenged become a more accepted or normalised part of society. The most obvious way for me to think of how to achieve such a goal (in this singaporean context) is for the government to come up with one of its many campaigns again! xD No matter what people might say about us lazy people, a nationwide campaign would be an effective and far-reaching measure on educating people more about this type of thing. Exposure leads to tolerance - that's what I'd like to believe.
as much as we try to face the harsh reality of life. i feel that there is a lack of effort on the governments part. maybe singaporeans do not get as excited over a paralympics gold medal, but i feel that the efforts for these medalist should be recognised and breaking 2 world records is a great feat! dun u think?
Certainly, Jerome. Then again, like most here have already mentioned, it is all about the revenue that can be generated through the event. Remember the dedicated advertisements from Samsung, Macdonald's et cetera during the break while the Olympics was showing? Maybe there wasn't as many sponsors for the Paralympics, such are the harsh realities.
Contrary to popular belief,the world and its populace of simpletons are still living in the dark ages.
Many of them have yet to evolve anywhere past their closed minded mindsets.
This is precisely the reason why I am not surprised by the lack of coverage for the Paralympics Games.People do find these things "unimportant".Their ego drives them to think that only able bodied are worth their time on watching and then cheering for them.
I agree with Marvin Kyle,these people put in much more effort than any able bodied athlete and certainly deserve more credence for their effort than this.Such a shame.
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