Tan Howe Liang, (; born 5 May 1933 in Shantou,

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, China) is a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...

who was the first Singaporean to win an

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

medal. He did this in the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

in Rome where he won the silver medal in the lightweight category. Tan also broke the oldest-standing

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in the lightweight category in the clean and jerk in 1958. He was the only Singaporean Olympic medalist until the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Tan was born on 5 May 1933, in

Swatow Shantou, alternately romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 2020 census (5,391,028 in 2010) and an administrative ...

, China, where he was the third of eight

sibling A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separa ...

s. When he was four years old, he

emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

d with his family to settle in Singapore, where he grew up in Chinatown. Tan's Teochew father died when Tan was 14. Tan left school after his first year at a secondary school.

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. Without any financial support, Tan worked as a clerk at

Cathay Organisation Cathay Organisation Holdings Limited is one of Singapore's leisure and entertainment groups. It has the first THX cinema hall and digital cinema in Singapore. The group has operations in Singapore and Malaysia. History Associated Theatres ...

also worked 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. In 1958, Tan established a world record with a lift of 347 pounds in the jerk for the lightweight division at the 6th British Empire and Commonwealth Games (now known as the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

), in

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. He also won a gold at the 3rd Asian Games in Tokyo that year. In 1959, Tan won a gold medal at the inaugural Southeast Asian Peninsular Games (now known as the Southeast Asian Games) in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

. On 8 September 1960, Tan made another attempt at the Olympics in Rome. In the lightweight category (60–67.5 kg) competition held at the Palazetto Dello Sports Hall, the gold medal was won by Russia's Viktor Bushuev by breaking the world record. Tan had to compete with

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

's Abdul Wahid Aziz for the silver medal. Tan had one final lift, the clean and jerk, left when he felt pain in his legs. He was advised by the doctors to receive treatment at the Athlete's Village but he had to withdraw from the competition and lose the silver medal. Tan refused to go for treatment and continued to compete. Tan lifted a total of 380 kg and won the silver medal.

Life after the Olympics

Tan tried to run a restaurant business but was unsuccessful. He worked as a

taxicab driver A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

for a short stint, before becoming a weight-lifting

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

in 1974. After his

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

from competition, Tan was hired as a gym supervisor by the

Singapore Sports Council Sport Singapore (SportSG) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth of the Government of Singapore. It is the lead agency tasked with developing a holistic sports culture for the nation. History Sport Singapore was ...

at the Kallang Family ClubFit in November 1982.

Honours

TanHoweLiang-TeamSingapore-2008SummerOlympics-20080825

Tan's

Olympic medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid o ...

made him the only Singaporean to have won a medal at all the major international games – the SEAP Games (predecessor of the

SEA Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

), the Asian Games, the

and the

for 48 years. He also became the first weightlifter in the world to be awarded the

International Weightlifting Federation The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), headquartered in Lausanne, is the international governing body for the sport of Olympic weightlifting. The IWF was founded in 1905, and has 192 Member Federations. The IWF President is Mohammed H ...

(national honour) Gold Award in 1984. In Singapore, Tan was the only athlete to be bestowed the ''

Pingat Jasa Gemilang The Pingat Jasa Gemilang ( en, Meritorious Service Medal) is a Singaporean national honour and medal instituted in 1962. It may be awarded to any person who has performed "''service of conspicuous merit characterised by resource and devotion to ...

'' (Meritorious Service Medal) at the National Day awards. On 26 June 1996, a commemorative medallion set by the

Singapore Mint The Singapore Mint was founded in 1968, after the independence of Singapore from Malaysia. Currently, Singapore Mint is contracted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to mint their coins. The Singapore Mint sells various coins, Singapo ...

was launched to celebrate the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. It features Tan on one side of the medallion, showing him getting ready to lift weights. When the image is tilted to a certain

angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays, called the '' sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the '' vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two rays lie in the plane that contains the rays. Angles a ...

, the picture would show him having lifted the weights.

Izzy Izzy is a common nickname for the given names Israel,Isaac, Isambard, Isidor, Isidore, Isidora, Isabel, Isobel, Isabelle, Isabella, Isaiah, Ishmael, Izzet, Isarn, Ismail, Isra, Izebel, Izmara, Isobelle, Isaura or Isam (عصام). Izzy, Izzi ...

, the official

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

of the Atlanta Olympics, is featured as a three-dimensional image on the other side of the medallion. 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 Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

champion,

Wong Peng Soon Wong Peng Soon, (; 17 February 1917 – 22 May 1996) was a Malayan/Singaporean badminton player who reigned as a top player in Malaya from the 1930s to the 1950s when it was a single nation. Noted for his smooth but powerful strokes and gra ...

, who was a four-time winner in the

All England Open Badminton Championships The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWF's latest grading system, it was given Super Series status in 2007, upgraded to Super Series Premi ...

in the 1950s. Tan was featured in

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

's "Millennium" series on Singapore sporting greats in 1999. In 2000,

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

sponsored Tan's trip to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, where he joined the Singapore contingent and attended the weightlifting competition. McDonald's also donated S$10,000 with the aim to help revive the sport of weightlifting in Singapore. McDonald's also featured a two-minute special

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

, titled "We Can Do It", featuring Tan's silver medal-winning feat at the 1960 Rome Olympics. The commercial re-enacts the different stages of Tan's life, from

childhood A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

to his triumph at the Olympics. Tan was given the honour of being the

flagbearer A standard-bearer, also known as a flag-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...

at the

closing ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

of the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

on 30 June 2007. The leotard and

belt Belt may refer to: Apparel * Belt (clothing), a leather or fabric band worn around the waist * Championship belt, a type of trophy used primarily in combat sports * Colored belts, such as a black belt or red belt, worn by martial arts practit ...

which Tan wore during his 10-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 Feng Tianwei (, ) is a Singaporean table tennis player. Born in Harbin, China, she permanently moved to Singapore at the age of 20 under the former Foreign Sports Talent Scheme in March 2007 and commenced her international career in competi ...

Li Jiawei Li Jiawei (; born 9 August 1981) is a retired Chinese-born former Singaporean table tennis player, four-time Olympian and twice Olympic medalist. She trained in Beijing's famous Shichahai Sports School with Olympic medalist Zhang Yining. In ...

and

Wang Yuegu Wang Yuegu (, ; born 10 June 1980) is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player who was ranked among the top ten players in the world. Wang made her inaugural appearance as a Singaporean table tennis player on the International Ta ...

won the silver medal in the women's team category, ending Tan's 48-year status of being the sole Singaporean Olympic medalist. 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.

Achievements

References

External links

* * *
Tan Howe Liang at Singapore Infopedia
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Howe Liang 1933 births Living people Olympic silver medalists for Singapore Olympic weightlifters of Singapore Olympic weightlifters of Malaysia Singaporean people of Teochew descent People from Shantou Chinese emigrants to Singapore Weightlifters at the 1956 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1960 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1964 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Singapore Weightlifters at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Weightlifters at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games World record setters in weightlifting Olympic medalists in weightlifting Asian Games medalists in weightlifting Weightlifters at the 1958 Asian Games Recipients of the Pingat Jasa Gemilang Singaporean male weightlifters Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Singapore Commonwealth Games medallists in weightlifting Medalists at the 1958 Asian Games Southeast Asian Games medalists in weightlifting Southeast Asian Games gold medalists for Singapore Medallists at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games