SEA Games: Michelle Sng wins Singapore’s first high jump gold medal since 1965

REPORTING FROM KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

Singapore has won its first gold medal in the women’s high jump event of the SEA Games in more than five decades after Michelle Sng leaped 1.83 metres at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.

The Republic’s historic gold medal – its first since 1965 – was won under dramatic circumstances following the outcome of an appeal a day after the competition ended on Thursday night (24 August).

Sng was tied with Vietnam’s Duong Thi Viet Anh after both had jumped 1.83m. Both failed to clear the next height of 1.86m and were informed initially that they would be jointly awarded with the gold medal.

However, a technical official said the two needed to do a jump off to determine a clear winner after the markings were already removed from the track and the pole was taken down. Duong won the jump off, and Sng was at first awarded a silver.

Team Singapore then lodged a protest, saying the jump off was “disadvantageous to both athletes”. Athletics team manager Yip Renkai said, “You’ve already cooled down and your mindset is that you’ve already completed the competition. We felt that it was unfair to both athletes. We decided that we should do a protest – not to make the wrong right but to ensure that both athletes get the result they deserve.”

The relevant officials eventually agreed on Friday after the protest that they would let both jumpers receive the gold medal.

Before the victory ceremony on Friday, Sng told reporters that she was unconcerned about the colour of the medal. The 30-year-old revealed that she had decided to retire from the sport at this very stadium in 2011 after a leg injury affected her ability to jump. She returned in 2013, and clinched a bronze in the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore.

Sng said, “Two years ago, I thought a lot more about the gold and what a difference it would make but not so much this time. In KL, it’s a lot more about a personal journey. It validates my decision to come back after having to leave the sport so heartbroken all those years ago.”

To prepare for the Games in KL, Sng even took a leave of absence from her Masters degree course last year to train full time for six months in Sydney, Australia.

Although the victory ceremony was slated for 5.10pm, it was delayed until about 6pm. Yahoo News Singapore understands that Vietnam tried to lodge a last-minute protest about the result.

For the first time at Bukit Jalil National Stadium, two national anthems were played. Sng wept freely while “Majulah Singapura” blared out in the stadium after Vietnam’s national anthem. She broke down again after the ceremony when she saw her former coach and friends who had flown to KL to support her.

“I started crying the moment we walked out. It’s been a very rough two years. I had a lot of personal challenges. It’s the perfect ending to what took six years to come full circle,” she said.

Sng said she has been working very hard to raise the profile of high jump in Singapore.

“I hope that with this gold medal I’m able to do even more and try to encourage athletes to not just join the sport but stay in the sport – that they can go to the SEA Games and beyond,” she added.

Singapore’s athletics team has won two golds (marathon, high jump), two silvers (400m hurdles, 400m) and two bronzes (100m, 200m) so far at this edition of the SEA Games.

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