Darren stumbles

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Sports/Story/A1Story20100826-234019.html

This will be a review of this article on gold medal hope Darren Choy.

Darren Choy failed to deliver the gold medal for Singapore in the YOG. He failed to tame the ever-changing weather conditions in Singapore and succumbed to the immense expectations placed on his shoulders. However, you must agree that this boy has done his best to fight for Singapore, to challenge his opponents, and he did do Singapore proud, winner or not. Darren is only 16 years old, and though he is a two-time World Champion, the pressure and expectations this time was much greater than before. Even when the home crowd expects so much, Darren placed even more pressure on himself to make himself push for the elusive gold medal. He knows what he is capable of and he wants to do it, showing maturity. There are definitely times when even a champion may falter. However, there might be many reasons why Darren lost.

One of the many reasons would definitely be the immense expectation from the home crowd. Being a two-time World Champion, Singaporeans all over the island were expecting him to be the one that will bring back the gold. He knows that people were expectant but he had already put huge pressure on himself and eventually, the pressure must have been too much. He couldn't respond to the pressure and cracked under it, therefore, disappointing during the races. Another of the reasons could be that him being a two-time world champion, and being a Singapore representative, the media would definitely give him plenty of airtime. The article states that during the second race, he had media boats surrounding him, providing him with unwanted distractions. Not reacting well to the sudden publicity, Darren failed to get used to it and eventually didn't do too well for the races.

This is a timely reminder for all Singaporeans. Even when the players were adults, for example the table tennis team, the weight placed on the players' shoulders were massive. Furthermore, Darren and his peers are just teenagers. They might not be able to withstand the pressure, hence we must acknowledge that we can put pressure but excessive is bad and we should really congratulate Darren for a valiant effort.