What a strong heart one needs. It was an extremely intense, nerve-racking, heart thumping and very, very, very, very close match to watch.

Our Singapore table tennis team beat the Korean team in the semi-final just minutes ago to pave our way for the first medal ever in Olympics!

Yes, we are in the run for either a gold or silver medal, if I didn’t hear it wrongly from the commentator. If I did, forgive me for I am but an extremely new Olympic fan who is cheering out for her home team.

My heart was entangled in a tight knot as my eyes were glued to the TV set watching Li Jiawei fighting fiercely to beat the one lady whom she failed to bring down in the Athens games. Alas, she lost in this match, and it took another winning doubles and the last singles match where Feng Tianwei beat Park Mi Young to confirm the good news.

As I’m typing this, my heart is still racing at an abnormally fast pace. Images of the win and how close we were to losing it, of the three paddlers hugging each other, some in tears and of the thought that we are really going to have Singapore’s name listed in the book of medal records.

Now, I suddenly recall a comment I received from a reader. I like to address that in another post, as I felt there were some lessons to be learnt there which we could apply to our lives. For now, if you ‘re scratching your head on the number of posts I’ve blogged about Olympics, just take it as giving me some “days off” from writing my usual stuff and allow me to share what I feel about watching the Games here, ok?

Since that was such a history-making moment, how can I let this golden opportuntiy pass by without leaving a trace on my blog?

Still reeling from the excitement and high adrenaline rush…

And no, don’t expect any form of professional hard-core sports reporting, because I ain’t an expert. I’m just a newbie Olympics fan. Ha!

[Post note: Thanks to a reader Saga who pointed out the error, this is actually Singapore's 2nd medal. In my over-excitement I had forgotten to add in another detail - 1st medal after 48 years. Tan Howe Liang won the very first Silver medal in the 1960 Olympics in the weightlifting event. Finally, he can share this glory and honour with someone else. Not bad to be flanked by 3 ladies, I say. *wink*)