Sunday, August 8, 2010

Posted by smileyface on 11:23 PM
1

2010 Summer Youth Olympic Games

Finally, after more than 2 years of intense planning, the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games are coming to Singapore. However, as shown in this poll:http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/07/90-per-cent-not-interested-at-all-in-yog/, Singaporeans show a disturbing indifference to the games. 90% of people surveyed were not interested in the YOG at all.


I feel that this is a very worrying trend shown. The apathy and lack of interest toward the games shows how Singaporeans can be small minded and selfish. The YOG is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and with the attitude shown by Singaporeans toward the games, this could very well be an embarassing flop for Singapore.

However, maybe this lack of interest is not solely due to Singaporean's lazy attitudes. Since it was announced, the planning for the YOG was been riddled by
  • financial diffculties: its budget nearly quadrupled from $104 million to $400 million)
  • controversy: the Minister for Community, Youth and Sports Dr. Balakrishnan harshly criticised Singaporeans for their indifferent attitude to the games
  • the aforementioned lukewarm attitude to the games: 3500 people surveyed by channel news asia said they were not interested in the games at all, and only 6% of tickets sold for the YOG were bought by the public
  • a rather embarassing cringe-worthy promotional video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_7g-kFRD1E ): Members of the public have criticised it for its cheesy lyrics and... the hadouken-esque moves
  • the lack of two of the olympic's biggest names (http://www.todayonline.com/Sports/EDC100731-0000092/Swim-sensation-Phelps-and-lightning-Bolt-will-miss-Youth-Olympics): Micheal Phelps and Usain Bolt are both unable to attend the YOG due to their own competition schedules, leaving Yelena Isinbayeva as the only games ambassador coming to Singapore
All in all, I feel that with so many factors weighing against it, it seems that a miracle is needed to prevent the YOG from becoming a national farce.
EDIT Another embarassment for the YOG: compare the mascots for the 2008 Olympic games and the mascots for the 2010 YOG
and
This is another example of how our uncreativity is just...embarassing.

1 comment:

  1. sAugust 10, 2010 at 3:50 AM

    dude don't post that.... vulgar and inappropriate cheer...

    ReplyDelete

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