Only 72 hours after Joseph Schooling's gold medal, a few sentiments have prevailed on social media:

- It cost the Schoolings almost $1.5 million of their own money to groom a gold medalist

- People have once again made the comparison between a Singapore-born champion and athletes who have arrived from other countries to play for Singapore

- Some people are upset the Government did not support Schooling financially

So here are three thoughts on these sentiments:

1. Mindset, not money is still the key to Olympics success

Money buys you the best equipment, coaches, sports doctors, nutritionists but all that is put to waste if athletes and their ecosystem of support (family, friends, colleagues, and employers) do not have the tenacity to stay on course for Olympic glory.

Still think sporting glory requires tonnes of cash? There are many stories of athletes who achieved the impossible with little support, resources, and infrastructure, and perhaps the most inspirational one at this year's games is Kenyan javelin thrower Julius Yego.

When he decided that he wanted to be in javelin, Yego went to Internet cafes to watch YouTube videos of other champion throwers to improve his technique. He had no access to a proper field, nor proper javelins. He made his own wooden javelins to practice.

Years later, he became the first Kenyan to win gold for the javelin event at the Commonwealth Games as well as the World Championships. He's expected to do well in Rio 2016. He wanted to win enough that he made his own javelins. Think about that.

If Singaporeans want more athletes but lament that they do not have $1 million to raise a champion or that they cannot make money being an athlete, then we may never get another gold medal.

While someone like Michael Phelps can turn his Olympic feats into a personal net worth of US$55 million, we must realise that there are other athletes who fail to win any medals, but can still make a living using the expertise and experience they gain from being athletes.

2. You can't manufacture genuine pride and celebration

When Schooling touched the swimming pool wall at 50.39s, Singapore who was holding its breath for the past minute erupted in ecstasy.

"Schooling" was the singular word that seized every Singaporean's social media feed on Aug. 13, 2016. Stories of people moved to tears watching the live telecast were aplenty on Facebook. People who rarely even say "thank you" to their parents suddenly showed their gratitude to the 21-year-old boy halfway across the world. Pride for Schooling and Singapore swelled -- one of the desired outcomes of sports governments the world over want.

After the initial euphoria, people started comparing homegrown athletes versus our foreign-born talents. We should admonish Singaporeans for their xenophobic and unkind comments against our foreign-born athletes. The immense amount of hard work and sacrifice they put in should never be discounted.

However, we cannot deny that the bronze and silver Olympic medals won by the table tennis team in previous Olympics produced a rather muted response in Singaporeans and corporations compared to the rapturous celebration of Schooling's gold. Granted, it was not gold.

We can tell off Singaporeans for being xenophobic, but we cannot force them to celebrate or artificially create that sense of pride in Singapore and its athletes now, can we?

3. It's impossible for a country/ corporation to support Schooling the way his parents did

Many people asked about the Government's role when Schooling's parents spent money to send him to the United States. Schooling did receive the Sports Excellence scholarship which gives an annual median stipend of S$90,000.

How else should the Government support the Schoolings? Note that we are all discussing with hindsight that Schooling has already won a gold medal.

The reality is that there are many potential athletes who didn't turn out to be a "Joseph Schooling" in their sport. The Government and even corporate sponsors have finite resources and they can't possibly bet on every athlete as if they are potential superstars. It may not be financially prudent to bet on athletes the way Colin and May Schooling did for their son.

Because a leap of faith is needed, and Singapore is too pragmatic for that.

Top photo via Getty.

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