Making Singapore a more inclusive society through sport

Dr Teo-Koh Sock Miang

President, Special Olympics Singapore

Your Excellency Mrs Karin

The Ambassador of Austria to Singapore

Mr Roger Loh

Vice-President, Special Olympics Singapore and Head of Delegation

Team Singapore athletes, coaches, family members, care givers, Special Olympics staff, corporate partners, ladies and gentlemen 

1. First of all, I'd like to say that I am really delighted to be here, standing among our Team Singapore athletes who will be representing Singapore soon. This is a wonderful opportunity to be participating at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria.

Encouraging our Special Olympians

2. The Special Olympics is a global movement that celebrates the human spirit, and enables athletes of all abilities to compete on the world stage. It is our privilege to be part of this movement. We are all very proud of our athletes, for training hard and making sacrifices to represent Singapore. Please join me in giving our athletes a big round of applause!

3. I am happy to see that a total of 14 athletes will be representing Singapore in Floorball and Short Track Speed Skating at the Games. This is the first time we are sending a team of Floorball athletes to the Special Olympics. I am sure that the team captain, Muhammad Ramadhan, and his team members are very excited to be a part of the Games. Similarly, I believe Faliq and his skating team are equally thrilled to be here.

Making Singapore a more inclusive society through sport

4. The team behind the team is instrumental to the success of our athletes – this includes the very supportive family members and care givers. Special mention to the coaches - I know many of the coaches take precious time from their busy schedules and other engagements to devote their attention to the Special Olympics athletes. Also the staff of Special Olympics; our corporate partners who have made this trip possible for them; and many, many more - your support for the athletes is really great and invaluable. Thank you so much for helping our Special Olympians lead more fulfilling lives through sport.   

5. The Government will continue to provide a comprehensive system to support our athletes. They have their sporting aspirations, and we hope to be a part of their sporting journey. There will be more programmes catered to persons of different abilities, and more partnerships to raise awareness and participation. We believe that, by working together - the government, people and private sectors; VWOs; schools; sports NSAs, - we are able to bring out the best in our society and the best in our athletes. Through this, we hope that Singapore can be a more inclusive and caring society.

6. I'd like to say a few words to our athletes. It is, as Dr Teo has said, a rare opportunity and honour to be donning our Singapore colours, representing us proudly in the Special Olympics. So while you're there, we hope that you will give your very best on the field. And off the field, I hope you'll be our ambassadors, that you'll also be proud of Singapore, and do a good job introducing Singapore to the rest of the world, and to your friends.

7. Finally, I'd like to thank everyone here again. I'd also like to give you my very best wishes: have a fruitful trip, and have the time of your lives. This is how we'd like Singapore to be, where there are opportunities for people of all abilities to do sports. We see people as a spectrum of abilities, some are good at certain things, some of us are good at others. So we have opportunities for everyone to participate, whether recreationally or competitively. Sport is a wonderful platform for us to come together as a society, as a community, and as a country. We would like to see more of such ventures and projects, and we hope you will continue to support sport in Singapore. Have a great trip ahead of you! Thank you.