It’s with great pride, relief, happiness and sadness that I write this post.

The Games have been delivered, and by my measure (I don’t know about you), it’s been a rip-roaring success.

There was so much joy, moments of despair, many dreams realised, many dreams still to be fulfilled, and a whole lot to be thankful for.

With a lump in my throat the size of Sentosa, I would like to thank:

The athletes: For your determination and athleticism that remind us all how pure sports can be and how it can unite us all.

The organising committee and my crew: I’m thankful for the great bosses,colleagues, partners, vendors, and other awesom people I have had the honour of working with, and my amazing New Media team that has hung in there since we started work on this just over 2 years ago. Amanda, Jialin, Kok Siong, Yee Hon, Victor, Nazif and Adeline: You guys rawk. hard.

To the extended family that have come forward to multiply what we’ve been able to deliver during the Games… STARS and volunteers, you don’t know how incredible you’ve been, and how there wouldn’t be a Games without you. I’m proud to have worked beside each and every one of you.

And finally, thank you dear reader for accompanying me on this 100-stop journey. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

This flame may have gone out, but the Singapore 2010 spirit burns on

Don’t stop believing.

But rather than me attempting to explain, I thought it would be better if someone else did it. Particularly someone who sees the benefits first hand. This is an email I received recently, which is fairly lengthy, but fully worth reading.

After a year of  preparation 22 youths from more than 250 finally made it to the Youth Olympic Village as Community Project Facilitators in-charge of Circus Arts.

Dressed in an official purple polo tee and smart khaki pants, these youths conducted themselves respectably as Singapore’s ambassadors to their peers from the rest of the world. We could not help feeling really proud of them as they stretched out their hands to introduce themselves followed by “Where are you from and what’s your sport?” They mingled confidently with the crowd and not for a moment would anyone realize  that they are youths-at-risk who had once gotten into trouble of sorts.

Over the last year, we have been offering  students and youths from residential settings the opportunity to serve as a Community Project Facilitator for the Youth Olympics. Eventually, these 22 gathered from a couple of schools, the Bukit Ho Swee neighbourhood and the Muhammadiyah Welfare Home stuck to the regular training where they reached a level of competency that enables them to instruct others. At the village, they  showed the athletes how to juggle, spin a plate, throw a diablo, lift  devil sticks and swing a poi. In the process they were to reinforce the Olympic values of excellence, respect and friendship.

It wasn't just athletes that the volunteers taught!

The idea of reinforcing the Olympic values sounds real nice but can it really be done?

Here are a couple of exchanges between the athletes and our youths and you decide if the idea succeeded:

A  16 year old Israeli basketball player got our youths thinking what it means to persevere for excellence when he shared that he had lived through 2 wars. When asked how he did it, this 16 year old simply shrugged his shoulders and said that he just focused on what he had control over and that was basketball. Our Muslim youths listened respectfully while encouraging him as he fiddled with the diablo. The basketball player was definitely comfortable in the company of our youths and soon they were laughing and gently teasing each other like a bunch of teenagers hanging out.

Another athlete from Yemen could not speak a word of English but she enthusiastically wanted to try out every skill we were imparting. While enthusiastic she was rather self-conscious about her inability to verbally communicate with our youths but she eased up immediately when one of our youths greeted her with the traditional Muslim greeting  Assalamu Alilkum or may god’s peace, mercy and blessings be with you.  Somehow, despite the differences, our youths found a way to find something similar to reach out to these athletes from different lands. Amidst the falling plates and juggling balls rolling all over the place, excellence, respect and friendship stood their ground.

Perhaps being in the company of champions brought out the champion in our youths. Working alongside them, greeting and speaking with the athletes was Yumilka Ruiz Luaces, a 4 time Olympian who has won 2 gold medals and 1 bronze as the Captain of the Cuban women’s volleyball team. Whatever it was, The Youth Olympics has won over these 22 youths whom a year ago could not imagine playing a role in an international event. They are now glad that they hung on and are now eagerly looking forward to their final round of duty this Sunday.

Three cheers to excellence, respect and friendship!
Gerard

Thank you Gerard, and kudos to your 22 volunteers for making this all worth it.

Team Japan at the workshop... again!

It turns out that the Japanese contingent is pretty keen on tech (who knew? ) and it was quite encouraging to see Japanese athletes attending the workshop for the fourth consecutive day! Most of them didn’t speak very much English, but that’s ok, because we made sure to have a selection of applications that would come with user interfaces in different langages. Also, we had interpreters to help out. But sometimes, it was just the smiling faces and basic sign language did the job.

Hmm... so does Brian (right) speak Japanese?

And it wasn’t only athletes who benefited from the experience.

There were a fair number of coaches who came by to take care of the athletes, and ended up picking up tips along the way. One particular story that I learnt about was of a gentleman from Gambia (a coach I believe) who had unsuccessfully attempted to attend the workshop thrice! But by sheer determination, he made it eventually, and the team was happy to guide him on his maiden experience with computers. I think it’s great that the super-savvy trainers and volunteers from Singapore got the chance to interact with people who have very limited or no experience with computers. It’s a wake-up call that not everyone lives on the internet, and that life goes on perfectly fine without being hooked up to your cellphone 24/7.

Ken introduces our eager learner to the Singapore 2010 website (great website btw)

The team also had the privilege of meeting some big names who came by…

Charmaine Crooks, one of the Athlete Role Models for the YOG

This surprised young lady won the first gold medal of the first ever Youth Olympic Games.

Remember her?

Things were going fine in the workshop, so I decided to venture out into the Village for a look. Turns out it really is quite the place to pick up bits of cultural trivia and useful skills if you’re an athlete.

There was this cute press-conference set up to give athletes the feel of a camera staring you down.

Practising for that big moment where a hundred cameras are focused on you

But in the Village, sometimes the media descends on these young athletes for real…

Huang Chao gets to talk to a reporter (and a recorder)

Once in awhile, the young athletes will also get to see how these skills are used by the seasoned professionals…

Guo Jing Jing: Diving diva and seasoned celebrity

And of course, I’m a sucker for celebrities…

Wilson Kipketer, a phenomenal former athlete and man to look up to

Too bad I couldn’t catch Guo Jing Jing in time for a photo. Maybe at the next YOG.

Everyone in the Village walks around with a wide smile on their face

WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.

Between waking up and falling asleep with the TV on, the hours are spent updating the website, sending out newsletters, tweeting, facebook-ing, replying emails, and attending meetings.

I’ve even lost track of the days, being at the Main Media Centre every day for almost 3 weeks now.

As you can see, even this sign to help us keep track of the days has become outdated

But it’s been fun, even if I don’t get out much.

The size of my team has suddenly exploded by about 20 times, and we are overflowing with content! Stories, photos and videos are spilling out of our ears… (See for yourself > Stories > Photos > Videos)

The New Media Lair in full swing (minus the guys slacking off watching TV)

Despite the significantly larger team (we had a small base to begin with, so any increase seems substantial actually), the job doesn’t exactly get very much easier. Depending on how addicted you are to your job (i.e. you don’t want to go home), there are times where you just zonk out at the desk after 1,034,543 hours on the job.

WhyOhGee Editor editing in her sleep. (Not!)

But sometimes we get visitors, and we have to wake up…

Our friend Alexandra from Rio 2016 visits!

Other times, we take a break to remember that there are other moments that we need to celebrate…

Birthday boy Vicson & friends (no interns were harmed in the shooting of this photo)

And the happy/sad thing is, all this is almost over.

Sponsors, coaches, teachers and most of all, our parents.

Just a couple of nights back, we were watching a young shuttler named Huang Chao play his heart out for good reason.

Smash from Huang Chao

Huang moved from China to Singapore in search of better opportunities. That night, he was playing in front of his dad, who he had not seen for the past six years. Can’t imagine what might have been going through his mind then. (Read more about Huang Chao)

A couple of days ago, one of the bosses lost his dad, and another colleague lost her grandmother. As we rush through every day during these Games, let’s also be thankful of all these people who got us here.

Watching the screens in the Main Media Centre... before dashing out for the fireworks!

And from our unique vantage point, we had the benefit of being able to watch the ceremony on the telly, as well as see the pyrotechnics explode above us. Magical.

Lot of the rings

Fireworks... always works.

Then, it struck me that we were now officially in “Games time”, something we’ve spoken of (too) many times, but I think it didn’t quite sink in till Vicson started vandalising the sign on the door.

We're ALMOST there?

Here we go...

But despite my flurry of blogposts yesterday, it was still not enough to hit my target of #100.

So I am thankful that most of you are merciful and have allowed me to reach my target some time before the end of the Games. Hee.

Everyone rushing to file stories a few hours ago

With this many people around, you’re bound to bump into people you know. And I did! And into people I’ve never met before, but have become friends with on Facebook.

Meet Setsuko and Serge. Setsuko designed the one of the faces of the YOG medal

Setsuko is a talented designer based in Canada, and one of her designs is going to be on the face of every gold, silver and bronze medal that goes home with the athletes. Serge works with her and it was through him that I got introduced to Setsuko and her team via Facebook (where else?). Hope to catch up with them soon.

Immediately after, I met my friends Nicolas and Patrick from the International Olympic Committee, who I’ve been working with for more than two years now (can’t believe it’s been that long!)

Then after, an acquaintance from my days in the media came by. Mr Ace Kindred Chan, photographer and regular Forum contributor. He’s really candid and has no airs about him, and is great with the people he photographs. Way back when I was just starting out in photography, I learnt a lot from how he interacted with his subjects to get the shots he wants.

And all this in under 2 minutes, standing in the middle of the Main Meeting Media Centre.

Sorry if we're a little slow with emails, we're watching TV

Captain Crutch visits!

We’ve all stopped what we’re doing and turned to the TV in the office. It’s tough trying to type this and focus.

The boss just SMSed to thank us for an incredible journey. And I in turn, would like to thank my team and the extended SYOGOC family, for getting us all here. One of those lump in the throat moments, if you know what I mean.

And 12 amazing days beckon!

Videographer shoots the skyline around the Float @ Marina Bay

Give me goosebumps just writing it.

Shot at 4.45pm. This will be the best place to be on earth in just a few hours.

But even if you don’t have tickets, you’ll get a feel of the whole party atmosphere just being in the vicinity of the city. You can go for the FREE performances at the Promotionary Promodory Promodormitory Promontory, which is the piece of land between the Marina Bay Sands and One Marina Boulevard.

And when all else fails, just look to the sky.

Watch the top of buildings around Marina Bay as they join in the celebrations

Now these are what I call "high beams"!

For those of you too lazy to get out of the house, or are in another country, you can watch the webcast HERE.

But having pull myself out of bed (having slept past 3am) and be in Bukit Batok for a 8.30am talk show seemed just as challenging.

That's Millenia, tucked away in Bukit Batok (photo by Gaurav @ Flickr)

I eventually got there, but was about 15 minutes late. (Didn’t have my bus with the Olympic rings and flashing lights unfortunately. :p)

They told me that there’d be about 60 students, but I think it was a fair bit more than that. Probably double that number!

Host Daniel Martin warms up the crowd. Tough when it's before 9.00am!

It was a cool (but perhaps a little short) discussion that talked about the expectations of young Singaporeans and the Youth Olympic Games, and why they were excited/not excited.

Think they were kinda surprised when I pulled out a camera. Hee.

The focus on studies and expectations of parents came up, which was important. But Daniel also pointed out we tend to blame our parents for everything. True?

Jed (I think) says he'd like to go back to Basketball, but his folks disapprove

Anyway, I’m glad I made it in the end, and thanks to my co-panelists for the morning – James (from Coca-Cola), Philip (from Sports Zone), Richard & Amir (from Millenia Institute), and Daniel Martin from 938LIVE for having me on the show.

Hope to see you at the Games!

P.S. Hope you guys didn’t think I was rude when I was on my phone tweeting. And sorry for the early morning draaawwl. :p