'Want more gold medals? Don't bring a knife to a gunfight': Soh Rui Yong on SNOC Sec-Gen's call for S'pore Athletics to win more gold medals

Singapore's national runner Soh Rui Yong has responded to Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) Secretary-General Mark Chay's comments calling for Singapore Athletics to "come to the party" in Singapore's pursuit of gold medals.

Soh, in a Facebook post, defended the performance of Singapore's athletics teams, saying that the team is filled with full-time students and working professionals who are pitted against full-time athletes.

He also pointed out that while resources are available, they are "not flowing into the sport".

"Come to the party"

During a SEA Games 2025 review, Chay, who is a former national swimmer and nominated member of parliament, commented that aquatics and athletics are "two compulsory sports" at the SEA Games, The Straits Times reported.

"Swimming delivered 50 per cent of the gold medals (from 38 events), but for athletics, there are three golds out of 47," Chay said, according to ST.

He then went on to say that if Singapore wanted a strong showing as the SEA Games host nation come 2029, athletics "need to come to the party".

Chay elaborated by saying that athletics is an event at all games, and that "we need to have more athletes at the world-class level".

Singapore Aquatics also needs to evaluate and see how they can improve in the next four years for a "good home showing", Chay mentioned.

Full-time students and working professionals

Responding to Chay's comments in a Facebook post, Soh said the reality is that Singapore fields full-time students and working professionals to compete against professional athletes from neighbouring countries.

Listing examples, he made the point that these professional athletes are backed by sponsorships from brands and their national athletic associations.

Soh noted that Singapore Athletics' top performer was Shanti Pereira, a full-time athlete sponsored by Nike and government scholarships.

He then related to his own experience, saying that he competed at the SEA Games while studying for an MBA and running his own business.

"I could go on and on but you reading this probably get the point by now," the national runner remarked.

Soh then claimed that Singapore has the resources to fund a proper high-performance athletics programme, but "those resources don't seem to be flowing in to the sport".

"Till then, don’t expect to win many gold medals bringing knives to a gun fight," Soh commented.

He went on to expound on the idea that "athletics ain't a rich man's sport", making it unlike sailing and swimming, where Singapore is competing against countries "much poorer than us in GDP per capita".

"Competition is deeper and comes fast and furious from more sources and directions," Soh said.

That aside, Soh opined that the priority of the Games is to promote values like sportsmanship, friendship and respect as well as the holistic development of athletes.

"Fixation on medal count to me is not a holistic way of measuring success at the Games," he concluded.

"Don't bring a knife to gunfight"

The runner followed up on his response to Chay with a "profile" of his teammate, Shaun Goh.

He ended his post with, "Want more gold medals? Don't bring a knife to a gunfight."

Apart from Soh, Singapore Athletics Vice President Marinda Teo also responded to Chay's comments in a Facebook post.

She thanked collaborators such as SNOC and SportSG for their support in various ways while pointing out that 80 per cent of Singapore's national athletes at the recent SEA Games were funded through resources raised by Singapore Athletics.

Top image via Mark Chay, Soh Rui Yong / Facebook