Awesome Moments In 2024 (So Far) That Make Us SG-Proud 🇸🇬
At just 17 years old, Max Maeder made history on 9 Aug by clinching an Olympic bronze in kitefoiling at Paris 2024, gifting the Lion City a remarkable birthday present on its 59th National Day.
As the nation's youngest Games medallist, Max's achievement not only highlights his incredible talent but also adds to the list of awe-inspiring feats that Singaporeans have accomplished here and on the global stage in 2024 (so far).
Read on and be very inspired. Go Singapore! 🇸🇬🇸🇬🇸🇬
January 2024
27 Jan: National high jumper Kampton Kam rewrites Singapore indoor high jump record
Despite having spent the last few months recovering from an Achilles injury and a heel bruise, 22-year-old high jumper Kampton Kam leapt 2.15m at the Penn State University National Invitational, beating his previous indoor high jump national mark by 7cm.
February 2024
13 Feb: Money No Enough 3 tops CNY box office with over $2.3 million since opening on 1 Feb
Directed by Jack Neo, this comedy is the best-performing local movie since the Covid-19 pandemic, having earned more than $1.5 million over the first 3 days of CNY alone (10 to 12 Feb).
The film is also one of only 24 local films to have passed the $2 million mark at the Singapore box office.
20 to 24 Feb: Singapore Airshow draws record numbers in first 4 days
Nearly 60,000 trade visitors attended the first four days of this year's Singapore Airshow, marking a 10% increase in turnout since the previous edition in 2018.
23 Feb: Sean Tan becomes first Singaporean to wrestle on WWE Friday Night SmackDown
28-year-old professional wrestler Sean Tan (ring name: Dante Chen) had his debut match on World Wrestling Entertainment programme Friday Night SmackDown against 26-year-old Bron Breakker at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
March 2024
1 Mar: Sprinter Marc Louis breaks longstanding 60m national record
At the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, the 21-year-old sprinter clocked a 6.69sec blitz in heat 4 of round 1, breaking Gary Yeo's previous 6.71sec mark in the 60m, which had been set in 2012.
13 Mar: Singapore ranks 8th in the world for returning Coldplay concert LED wristbands
During the Singapore leg of Coldplay's "Music of the Spheres World Tour", the band recreated a sky full of stars in the National Stadium by getting fans to wear recyclable LED wristbands called Xylobands, allowing the audience to be part of an immersive light show during the concert.
As part of the band's sustainability efforts, fans were asked to return the wristbands after the show, so that they could be sterilised and recharged to be reused for future shows.
In a leaderboard released by Coldplay on 13 March, Singapore came in 8th place in terms of wristband returns, with 91% of concert goers having returned their wristbands.
In comparison, Malaysia was 9th place on the chart with a 90% return rate.
17 Mar: Fencer Amita Berthier qualifies for Paris Olympics
The 23-year-old three-gold SEA Games champion secured her spot at Paris 2024 with her individual ranking points, making this her second outing at the Olympics after qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
20 Mar: Singapore ranked happiest place in Asia for 2nd year in a row
According to the World Happiness Report 2024, Singapore clinched the 25th spot for 2023, making it the happiest country/territory in Asia for the second consecutive year.
In addition, Singapore was named the 30th happiest country/territory globally overall for 2021 to 2023.
20 Mar: RSAF successfully executes its first humanitarian airdrop to the Palestinians in Gaza
The Republic of Singapore Air Force's C-130 transport aircraft arrived in Amman, Jordan on 16 March. Through close coordination with the Jordanian Air Force, humanitarian supplies comprising donated items such as meal packs, food items, and other emergency relief items were successfully airdropped into Gaza on 20 March.
26 Mar: Gaza hospital thanks Singaporeans for donations that helped to restore power
In a letter dated 26 March, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, thanked Singaporeans who donated to a project that saw the hospital outfitted with solar panels, restoring power to the only paediatric hospital in the north of Gaza.
April 2024
2 Apr: SAF mission crew returns safely from Gaza after successfully delivering humanitarian aid
2 weeks after their deployment to Jordan to provide humanitarian aid (see March above), the SAF mission crew returned safely to Singapore.
Working in tandem with the Royal Jordanian Air Force, twenty tonnes of food, or over 59,000 meals, were delivered via airdrop operations into Gaza over two weeks, with the supplies having been put together by the SAF, non-governmental organisations and the Jordanians.
7 Apr: Local actor Mathi Alagan has a role in Hollywood film Monkey Man
The actor wrote in a social media post: "Grateful beyond words for the incredible opportunity to be a part of Monkey Man helmed by a true legend in the industry. Working alongside Dev Patel has been an absolute honour and a masterclass in itself."
15 Apr: Teenager Kabir Anurag is first Singaporean to join Alpine's Formula One academy
The 16-year-old is only the 9th addition to Alpine F1 Team's driver development programme. He also flagged off his first Formula 4 season that same weekend, joining the ranks of other Singaporeans who have raced in F4 such as Christian Ho and Rishab Jain.
24 to 28 Apr: Harpist Renee Yadav wins first prize at Korea International Harp Competition
The 18-year-old student from the School of the Arts (SOTA) beat 29 competitors from 12 countries to take first place in the Young Professional category of the Korea International Harp Competition (KIHC).
For placing first, she bagged two million won (S$1,981) in prize money, a trophy and a solo recital in Italy scheduled for 2025, and will also be performing at the next KIHC opening concert in 2026.
May 2024
21 May: Siddharth Jagadeesh becomes Singapore's 6th and youngest chess grandmaster
After years of hard work, the 17-year-old beat world No. 34 Russian grandmaster Andrey Esipenko, meeting the criteria to achieve grandmaster rank.
He had previously achieved FIDE master rank in 2019, followed by international master rank in 2022.
June 2024
15 Jun: RSAF Wins Two Awards at Multilateral Large-Scale Air Combat Exercise Red Flag – Alaska
The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) participated in a United States Air Force (USAF)-hosted exercise, Exercise Red Flag – Alaska, from 30 May to 14 June 2024.
14 F-15SG and 10 F-16 fighter aircraft with over 300 personnel were deployed by the RSAF to participate in this large-scale air-to-air combat exercise, winning two awards at the exercise: "Top Fighter Generation Squadron" and "Outstanding Mission Commander".
16 Jun: Powerlifter Farhanna Farid sets deadlift world record for 9th time in two years
With a 209kg heave at the World Open Classic Powerlifting Championships in Lithuania, Farid added another kilogram to the previous women's Under-52kg deadlift world record that she set in December 2023.
24 Jun: Shannon Tan becomes first Singapore golfer to qualify for the Olympics
The 20-year-old golfer made her debut on the Ladies European Tour (LET) earlier this year and was ranked 43rd out of the 60 players who qualified in the Olympic Golf Rankings.
July 2024
22 Jul: COL Lee Mei Yi is Singapore's first female exercise director for Exercise Pitch Black
Exercise Pitch Black (XPB) is a biennial large-scale multinational air combat exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). This year's XPB is the largest in the exercise's 43-year history, involving more than 4,400 personnel and over 140 aircraft from 20 participating nations.
This year, 39-year-old COL Lee Mei Yi is serving as the RSAF's Exercise Director. This marks her second time participating in XPB, having served as an F-16 pilot in the 2014 exercise.
This round of XPB also features Singapore's first Ground-Based Air Defence (GBAD) involvement in eight years.
August 2024
9 Aug: Singaporer kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder wins Olympic bronze
The 17-year-old world champion made history as Singapore's youngest Olympic medallist, ending the eight-year wait for a medal after Joseph Schooling won a gold medal for swimming at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
This is also the first time that kitefoiling has been part of the Olympics.
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