Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing in Marseille, France on 9 August, 2024. (Photo by World Sailing / Sander van der Borch)
The Olympic medallist and Formula Kite world champion talks about the pursuit of mastery and finding comfort in his parents’ unconditional love and support.
“When I returned to Singapore after the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the love I received from everyone was simply overwhelming. To think that I somehow inspired or uplifted others was very humbling. It was a great feeling knowing that people enjoyed my race.
The final day of my race coincided with National Day – only fate could have willed that. Of course, I would have loved to win the Olympic gold on Singapore’s 59th birthday. Being at such a high-level event made me want to do my best for myself and my country.
But the cold, hard truth is, I wasn’t extremely satisfied with my performance, and it was a hard pill to swallow. I don’t want to bore you with the technical details of the race, but I didn’t lose due to the lack of skills. I lost because I didn’t make the right calls during the race.
That, however, doesn’t mean that I can’t draw energy and vigour from how positively the performance was received. That was the first time Formula Kite was featured at the Olympics, and I wanted to give Singapore a reason to cheer.
After the Olympics, I wasn’t even thinking about what ‘the next big thing’ was. Yes, you have major events, and you prepare better for them like how you would for any other. But even before the Olympics, the goal wasn’t the Olympics.
For me, it’s about learning and improving all the time. It’s about getting a little bit better here and a little bit better there. A systematic approach is more sustainable for me in the long run, and enjoying the process is more important than having an end goal or an event-based goal.
With time, my reason for pursuing the sport has definitely changed. The first time I started kite foiling, I was immediately captured by how it felt gliding over the water and how cool it was to fly. Interest then turned into the pursuit of mastery, right?
But now, what I’ve come to appreciate is the ability to inspire others through my efforts in the sport. I have a reason outside of myself to compete, and putting on a great performance is my way of saying thank you to everyone who’s supported me. That’s very fulfilling to me.
My biggest supporters are my parents, and I really want to thank them because they’ve had this very unique approach in raising me. You know how encouragement comes from your parents, right? It’s a very natural thing for a parent to say, ‘You can do it. We believe in you.’
That’s all good and well-intended, of course, but it’s loaded with expectations, right? As children, we don’t want to let down our parents. It’s not that we’re afraid to fail. We’re afraid to lose the affection of our parents.
But instead of telling me, ‘You’ve got this,’ my parents told me, ‘We got you.’ And when you change your choice of words as simply as that, what that told me was, no matter the outcome, I’ll still come back to a loving household and a warm embrace.
That instilled me with the security to go out and fail. Even if I don’t do well, I can go out again and try again because I know I can go home and still be hugged, loved and accepted. That has had a very profound effect on me and my siblings in our journey through life.
The way I’ve been brought up, you also don’t assume what you can or cannot do. You simply make an attempt at it. For instance, anytime you study something new and you don’t get the topic the first time, you don’t make the assumption that you can’t learn it.
You sleep on it, come back another day and try again. It’s the same thing with sports. I was floating for a while around a certain level of competition. Despite all my training, I didn’t level up. I saw people pull away in front of me, and there was nothing I could do to catch up.
Yet, I didn’t assume the sport wasn’t for me simply because I didn’t see an immediate change or improvement. Why leave potential on the table and be limited by negative thoughts? Why say you’re not good at this or that if you never really gave it a good chance?
All you have to do is just look at it pragmatically and see what you change or improve on. So if there’s a piece of advice I would give to anyone, it’s to stick to whatever it is you’re interested in or passionate about. You’d be surprised at what you’re capable of.” – Max Maeder
Interview by Arman Shah
All photos courtesy of IKA
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What an incredibly inspiring young man, with such a bright future ahead of him. Love that comment by his parents - 'We've got you'. That is so powerful - to know that you are loved and supported unconditionally, no matter what your achievements or successes in life. It is through our failures that we go stronger in body, mind and spirit. We will be watching this bright future unfold from afar in South Africa - and maybe we'll see Max out on the waves down here in Cape Town. Warmest wishes. Justine and Michael.