It is difficult to compare Singapore to England - there is the stifling humidity for one thing - but after being in the former for the last two weeks, I have begun to notice more than a few similarities between the host country of the inaugural Olympic Games and the one that will host London 2012 in just under two years time.

For a start, English is the native tongue of both while the two share the system of driving on the left side of the road.

Both have a commendable public transport system - though I must admit that Singapore’s is far cleaner and more efficient from my relatively brief experience here - and the shopping malls appear to feature largely the same retail outlets and fast food chains with McDonalds being ever-present in both countries.

Amongst the finer details, the majority of natives of the two follow English Premiership football religiously and you can even use English plugs in Singapore without having to purchase an adapter despite the countries being more than a 13-hour flight apart.

But perhaps the similarity between the two that has surprised me most is that 16-year-old British diver Tom Daley, the boy from Plymouth who is predicted to win gold at the London 2012 Olympics, is as big a star here in Singapore as he is in England. If not bigger.

Occasionally, Daley has had to share the spotlight with other figures here such as Singaporean junior sailing world champion Darren Choy, the 16-year-old who lit the Olympic flame at the Opening Ceremony but has not been in the best of form at the Games so far. However, for the most part, the media glare has been on Daley and Daley alone.

It is not hard to figure out why he is a popular figure in England. After all, he’s young, good looking, charming and a charismatic talker both on and off camera. Add to that the fact he is one of the world’s greatest diving talents, the reigning world champion in the 10 metre platform event and likely to be one of Britain’s most successful sportsmen over the next decade and the logic is clear.

However, it is perhaps a little more difficult to put your finger on why, at the biggest sporting competition Singapore have staged in their history, Daley is the face of the Games.

True, the reasons I have listed regarding Daley’s fine attributes probably make him a figure of interest at any sporting event he attends and diving is a big sport in Singapore, especially at Youth Olympics where it is one of the few sports featuring athletes who are actually the best in their sport even when there are no age restrictions.

But having a Briton as the poster-boy of a global sporting event in Southeast Asia? Curious? And I feel that England will not return the favour by having a Singaporean as the star attraction at London 2012. In fact, it will perhaps only be the likes of global sporting superstars such as sprinter Usain Bolt and swimmer Michael Phelps who are even allowed to share some a portion of the limelight with Britain’s big names come 2012.



The Beijing 2008 Olympian is so big here, he has featured at sometime or another on all 22 channels in my hotel room in the past 14 days.

There are giant posters across the country with his image on, local magazine columns featuring his comments and despite finishing in ninth in the men’s 3m springboard last night - an event he accurately describes as “not his best by a long-way” - Daley’s performance has received more media attention in the newspapers here and on-line than that of the competition’s winner, Qiu Bo of China.

Arguably Daley’s biggest fans in Singapore are young teenage girls who could be heard screaming at a defining pitch at the Toa Payoh Swimming Complex yesterday whenever the Briton took to the board.

It was faintly reminiscent of when David Beckham visited here in 2005 as part of the London 2012 delegation that successfully bid for the Olympics and Paralympics and was accompanied by a soundtrack of screaming females wherever he went.

And all this came after Daley nearly missed the competition because, earlier this month, he suffered a triceps tear following a mistimed dive. The injury forced him out of the European Championships in Budapest and word here was that he may have to miss the Youth Olympics altogether.

When the news emerged, the Main Media Centre at Marina Bay Sands’ Expo went into overdrive speculating on Daley’s fitness while there was a genuine sense of panic in Singapore that the hero of the Games might not make it. On more than one occasion, presumably due to the fact that I am easily identified as being from England in Singapore, I was approached by a variety of journalists with a real sense of urgency demanding, "What’s happening with your guy Daley?"

Despite my truthful response that I only knew as much as they did, it didn’t stop them continuously pestering me until to my relief - and the whole of Singapore’s, or least its young teenage female bit - it was announced that the teenager would compete in his weakest event, the 3m springboard, but forgo the 10m platform, the event for which he was crowned as world champion in Rome last year and favourite to win in Singapore.

Daley held a press conference that same day which was full of media from around the globe bombarding him with questions ranging from his diving form and his injury to his favourite food. Having fielded questions from the media since he was a nine-year-old, Daley put in an extremely polished performance by answering each question engagingly and underlining to the media here his undoubted star quality.  

After the press conference, I had a few minutes to talk to the boy himself who I found to be one of the genuinely nicest teenagers I have met. In our few minutes together, I asked him what he made of being the superstar of the Games. He smiled.

"Well I wasn’t really aware of the fact that I was in the media here because I know that there are a few Singaporean divers competing," he said.

"But it was kind of weird because all the volunteers are coming up and asking for photos and I didn’t think that diving was that big in Singapore until now.

"It’s nice though because people come up to you and they respect you for what you do and they support you so it’s been good so far."

Shortly after, Daley headed off to training but not before signing a Youth Olympic Games programme for my nine-year-old brother. He said goodbye and it is then that the penny drops and I realise why Daley is poster-boy of these Games. He is not just a British star, but a world-wide star and, because he is so young, he won’t be allowed to legally buy a beer in England or Singapore for nearly two years; you can expect to see him around for a while.

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames covering the inaugural Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore