Tan Howe Liang
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| Country |  Singapore | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Olympic finals | Silver medallist, (weightlifting, in the class to 67.5 kg) 1960 Summer Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Tan Howe Liang, PJG (simplified Chinese: 陈浩亮; traditional Chinese: 陳浩亮; pinyin: Chén Hàoliàng; born 5 May 1933 in Shantou, Guangdong, China) is a Singaporean weightlifter who was the first Singaporean to win an Olympic Games medal. He did this in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome where he won the silver medal in the lightweight category. Tan also broke the oldest-standing world record in the lightweight category in the clean and jerk in 1958. He was the only Singaporean Olympic medalist until the 2008 Summer Olympics.[1]
Early life
Tan was born on 5 May 1933,
Weightlifting career
Tan's weightlifting career started when he walked past the World Amusement Park and witnessed his first weightlifting competition and became interested in the sport. After one year of training on his own, Tan, then 20, won national junior and senior championship in the lightweight division in 1953.[3]
Without any financial support, Tan worked as a clerk at Cathay Organisation and also as a mechanic to pay for his training. Despite the hardships, Tan continued his training.
During the 1956 Summer Olympics, in an attempt to lifting 241.75 pounds in the press, Tan fainted after lifting up the bar. After he was revived without injuries, he was advised to retire by the team manager, but refused. He went on to lift 220.75 pounds for the snatch and 314 pounds for the clean and jerk to earn ninth place.[4]
In 1958, Tan established a world record with a lift of 347
On 8 September 1960, Tan made another attempt at the
Life after the Olympics
Tan tried to run a restaurant business but was unsuccessful. He worked as a
Honours
Tan's
On 26 June 1996, a commemorative
In 1999, Tan was nominated for the "Spirit of the Century" award. In the same year, he was also nominated for "Singapore's Greatest Athlete" award, but conceded the award to former badminton champion, Wong Peng Soon, who was a four-time winner in the All England Open Badminton Championships in the 1950s. Tan was featured in Time's "Millennium" series on Singapore sporting greats in 1999.
In 2000,
Tan was given the honour of being the
which Tan wore during his 101⁄2-hour competition in Rome were put on display in a glass case in the Singapore Sports Council's Sports Museum at the National Stadium.At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Singapore's table tennis players Feng Tianwei, Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu won the silver medal in the women's team category,[5] ending Tan's 48-year status of being the sole Singaporean Olympic medalist.[6] At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Feng's bronze medal in the women's singles table tennis event meant that Tan was no longer the only Singaporean with an individual Olympic medal.[7]
Achievements
| Venue | Game | Category | Medal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 Cardiff | 6th Commonwealth Games | Lightweight 790/358 | Gold |
| 1958 Tokyo | 3rd Asian Games | 67.5 kg (375.0 pts) | Gold |
| 1959 Bangkok | 1st SEAP Games |
Lightweight 815/369.6 | Gold |
| 1960 Rome | 17th Olympic Games | Lightweight | Silver |
| 1962 Perth |
7th Commonwealth Games | Middleweight 860/390 | Gold |
References
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Tiger Tan". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
Full name: Howe Liang "Tiger" Tan
- ^ Teng, Sharon. "Singapore Infopedia: Tan Howe Liang". National Library Board. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f Lim Han Ming (20 July 2007). "Singapore's only Olympic medallist". The New Paper. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016.
- ^ "Courageous bid". The Straits Times. 25 November 1956. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ Lim, Rebecca (26 July 2012). "Singapore's Olympic gold chase a hurdles race". BBC News. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ "China beats Singapore for women's table tennis gold". Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ Chen, May. "Olympics: Feng wins Singapore's 1st individual medal in 52 years". The Straits Times. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
External links
- Howe-Liang TAN at Olympics.com
- Tiger Tan at Olympedia
- Tan Howe Liang at Singapore Infopedia
- Tan Howe Liang at Singapore Sports Council's Hall of Fame at the Wayback Machine (archived 13 March 2007)
- Singapore National Olympic Council at the Wayback Machine (archived 13 November 2013)
