The humility and sportsmanship of Singaporean athletes can be quite an inspiration to the rest of us.

Take female marathoner Neo Jieshi, for instance, who represented us alongside 100m sprinter Timothee Yap for athletics at the Rio Olympics.

Neo's journey is a fascinatingly Singaporean one — she trained for the Olympics alongside, and without quitting, her full-time job as an assistant human resources and administration manager, and qualified for it after placing 10th overall at the 2015 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.

She also earned her ticket to Rio without the help of any coaches, special nutritional or medical support, only getting assigned a trainer in February.

Her race was on Sunday night Singapore time, but ever since Neo flew into Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 1, she kept us updated on her exploits via her Facebook page, which included:

1. Featuring the volunteers assisting her and Yap with their training:

2. Befriending other athletes:

3. Befriending our paddlers, too:

4. Cheering on rower Saiyidah Aisyah:

5. She also did her fair share of fangirling:

6. Cheering on Quah Zheng Wen:

7. Finding time to thank her parents and friends for encouraging messages she brought to Rio:

8. Hanging out with more of our paddlers:

9. Defying her need for proper rest to stay up and cheer on Joseph Schooling:

10. Cheering on Yap in person:

And finally, after all that, Neo races in a gruelling morning marathon, coming in third-last of the finishers — but hey, she finished!

And she even found time to write this lovely post:

Here's what she said in full:

Totally overwhelmed by all the sweet messages and encouragement that have been coming in. Thank you my dear family, friends and training partners for staying up to watch the Rio Olympics' women marathon event on Sunday night. Some of you are not even into sports or marathon. Nonetheless, you stayed up, over 3hrs on toggle, just to see me cross the finishing line.

It was tough running alone, trailing at the back, under the scorching sun, but never once did I think of giving up because I know all of you who are supporting me out there are glued to the screen and waiting for me to finish the marathon.

Would have been awesome to end my debut Olympic with a personal best, but the race did not work out the way I wanted it to be.

3:15:18 is not the time I was hoping for but it was the best I could muster under the conditions. I'm disappointed with the results, but I'm glad to have gave my all and also meet my second target, which is to enjoy the race and finished it with a smile. Thank you coach for believing in me, giving me the much needed encouragement throughout the race.

Big thanks to Adriana and Hwee Koon for helping at the personal refreshment stations.

Thank you everyone for your support in my running journey! Thank you my family and friends for being so understanding and accommodating to my training schedule during this period. The Road to Rio journey has been amazing and especially meaningful because of all of you.

Still find it hard to believe - I'm an Olympian!

Indeed, you are.

Random aside: A couple of ministers also found time to leave comments on her post:

Well done on finishing the marathon on your first Olympic outing, Jieshi! You've certainly won our hearts.

Top photo from Neo Jieshi's Facebook page.

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