The Singapore Street Festival will be featuring talents from all over the world.
But before the celebrations could begin, some not-so-young men stole the show.
They rapped.
Yes, rapping has been a new thing among the ministers and CEOs.
And you know what, rapping is subjective. Even tho these men didn’t do a slick Eminem-level rap performance, they managed to hold a few lines according to the beat of a song.
Watch Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (MCYS and MOT) and Goh Kee Nguan, CEO of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee do their thang.
26 little athletes have made their debut. Lego people? Nope.
The Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games Sport Pictograms were unveiled today!
Singapore 2010 Pictograms
As you know, for every Olympic games, the pictograms are unique and identifiable.They will be used to guide spectators at venues, used on handbooks or put up on the website. These pictograms are also especially useful if you can’t spell gymnashtickgymnasticksgymnestics. You get the idea.
Notice that the figure in the Singapore 2010 pictograms look strangely familiar.
Is it the Ghost Rider? Nah, the fiery head actually belongs to the figure found in the Singapore 2010 logo.
See the similarities?
Here to share the moment with us was the International Olympic Committee members. They had a whole long day of meetings but were still excited to see the birth of a new set of pictograms.
They were pleased with the new pictograms
But wait! There is going to be another set of Culture and Education Programme pictograms that will be launched at a later date. These pictograms will be used at CEP venues and activities during the Games.
What is this Ride of Silence? It’s rather poetic isn’t it?
Well, it is a ride in honor of those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways. It started in May 2003 at White Rock Lake in Dallas and drew 1,000 cyclists through word of mouth and email communication over a period of only ten days.
Ride of silence in Seattle, Flickr.com by Carfreeday
But it’s also a call to safety and cyclists will have to don on a helmet and travel at a silent slow-pace of max. 12 mph/20 kph.
Join cyclists worldwide by doing the ride of silence right here in Singapore. It starts at Merlion Park today at 7.00pm and will be a 19km ride from Merlion Park, City Hall, China Town, Holland Village, Orchard to Dhoby Gaut.
Remember to dress in WHITE, wear a HELMET and bring your BIKE.
The ride of silence
Tonight we number many but ride as one
In honor of those not with us, friends, mothers, fathers, sisters, sons
Yasmin Ahmad is the mastermind behind these wonderful TV commercials.
Want more? She’ll be directing a new film on 17-year-oldThaddeus Cheongwho collapsed at the finish line during a selection race for the South-east Asian Games triathlon event in June 2009. He passed away soon after.
The film will be based on the book Go! Thaddeus! written by Thaddeus’ aunt, Belinda Wee. The book about the young hero was what got Thomas Chia, director of independent movie distributor Lighthouse Pictures, up on his feet to get the project going.
It will be released in August 2010 in Singapore and Malaysia and will be a lead up to the Youth Olympic Games. Watch out for it!
When Singapore paddlers Wang Yue Gu, Feng Tian Wei and Li Jia Wei were fighting for Singapore’s first Olympic medal in 48 years, it was one of the few times we could get off work and go to some place with a large-screen television to watch their matches.
Table tennis ladies who did Singapore proud at the Beijing 2008 Games
It was an exciting period. A time when us Singaporeans could gather together and cheer like the good old, Fandi Ahmad days of soccer.
Will the next Olympic Games in London be as exciting, nail-biting and intense for Singaporeans?
A new program by the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sport (MCYS) called the Olympic Pathway Programme (OPP) will look into keeping Singapore’s Olympic hopes alive.
Six athletes have been selected to be part of this programme already: paddlers Feng Tian Wei, Wang Yue Gu, Sun Bei Bei, Yu Meng Yu, Tao Li (swimmer) and Jasmine Ser (shooter).
The funding for OPP is yet to be confirmed but its an great start to the preparation for the next Olympic Games.
By the way, this is just the first batch of athletes to be selected for the programme. There are other athletes who are working hard to fulfill the criteria to be part of the OPP. Let’s hope there’ll be more Olympic moments for us yet again!
To be eligible for it, you’ll need to be a youth, and have athletic abilities. It’s also limited edition…there are just 450++ pieces of it in the world!
What am I talking about? It’s the specially designed Asian Youth Games (AYG) Medals! They will be given out to the winners of the competition held from June 29 to 7 July.
The medal has AYG’s logo as its centerpiece and Olympic values of “Excellence, Friendship and Respect” are imprinted on the border of the medal. On the other side of the medal the combination of the AYG mascot,Frasia, and the symbol of an orchid represents Singapore as the host nation.
A total of about 1,300 athletes and officials from 45 countries will compete in 90 events across nine sports. 96 athletes will be from Singapore.
Don’t forget to catch the games online. More details coming soon!
Keep reading newspapers. Photo by Marcin Wichary, Flickr.
With the start of the world’s 1st Asian Youth Games barely a month away (47 days and counting), here’s a crash course on the latest AYG news.
May 12th: FINALLY the chosen ones are here!
The games are what? 47 days away? It’s about time! Athletes have been named to rep Singapore for the upcoming Games, with only basketball, beach volleyball, bowling and football teams unconfirmed.
Singapore has athletes competing in all nine AYG sporting categories, with an arsenal of 24 swimmers taking up the bulk. You can look forward to cheering on familiar faces like Quah Ting Wen (swimming), Lynnette Lim (swimming), and Isabelle Li (table tennis), and many other rising stars.
National sports associations have until 14 May to confirm their athletes, so hurry!
April 30th: Being given some premium grade green
I’m talking about Bishan Stadium’s football field being relandscaped with Zoysia Matrella grass, as part of a major facelift for 6 of the 10 sporting venues for the AYG. So fancy, Mr Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports, tried to feed Frasia some of the new grass.
You can also look forward to upgraded facilities like a brand new synthetic running track at the Bishan Stadium to meet international standards. Entirely handmade. The stadium will be used for athletic events and come post-Games, us non-athletic types will be free to run all over the track as much as we desire.
Other AYG Event venues:
Toa Payoh Swimming Complex – Diving
Singapore Sports School – Swimming
Sentosa, Siloso Beach – Beach Volleyball
Anglican High School – FIBA 33 (3-on-3 Basketball)
National Sailing Centre – Sailing
Toa Payoh Sports Hall – Table Tennis
Orchid Conutry Club – Bowling
SAFRA Yishun – Shooting
Jalan Besar Stadium – Football
April 24th: How about a touch of class?
As mentioned before, Swissotel The Stamford will serve as the Games Village when athletes come to play at the upcoming Games. With its central location and five-star rating, the athletes will be able to kick back with style after a hard day’s work. The hotel will also be showing them around Singapore!
Trivia: The hotel is at 226 metres tall, and is currently the tallest hotel in the south of Asia, and third tallest hotel in the world.
April 15th: The name’s Frasia
Remember xxx? Well, the smiling lion was named Frasia after a week-long contest to name AYG’s official mascot. Meaning “Friend of Asia,” the winning entry beat 1,470 others. I just bumped into him a few weeks back and he was beaming from ear to ear. I guess he loves his new name!
March 19th: AYG’s official mascot and theme song launch
An energetic lion jumped out to show us who’s the man, striking three poses that reflected the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect. My personal favourite is his pose for Respect, very from-the-hood with a touch of heartland edge. He is AYG’s official mascot and would be named through a contest. So far our pet name for him is xxx.
Also, Nathan Hartono and Selby Lian Kim sang the AYG theme song, ‘Asia’s Youth, Our Future’, bursting with emotion and accompanying dancers. We were all transported into a mini-National Day Celebration. Nice.
Welcome to the WhyOhGee blog, where we take you behind the scenes at the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee. Don't forget to link to us too.
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