Ayy, looks like Singapore Airlines (SIA) took all the hard (but valid) criticism to heart the last time they took a picture with a sports champ. Where they simply relegated Olympic gold medallist Joseph Schooling to the back like some rando last month, the airlines now placed Singapore’s Paralympians in the foreground for their photo op. Behold.
Before
After
Even better — the premier airlines rewarded double gold-medallist swimming champ Yip Pin Xiu with their prestigious KrisFlyer Elite Gold card. Just like Schooling, Yip now has a million frequent flyer miles under her belt.
Yip wasn’t alone in SIA’s celebrations — the rest of Team Singapore’s Paralympics athletes were greeted with a congratulatory banner with flowers, champagne and a cake during their Barcelona stopover. The medallists — Yip and fellow swimmer Theresa Goh — were seated in first class too, so that’s great. Hopefully the others at least got upgraded to premium economy or something.
Public celebrations are in order to honour the contingent of 13 athletes when they return tomorrow morning. According to Sport Singapore, there’ll be a homecoming ceremony at Changi Airport and a parade for the team on Saturday.
We could be mistaken, but the only celebratory parade carried out for Olympians was done for Joseph Schooling — we don’t remember seeing any for the likes of the Wen swimming siblings or Saiyidah Aisyah, the DIY Olympic rower.
Reader Interactions