SINGAPORE — Maximilian Maeder's historic bronze medal on Aug 9, 2024, earned him the title of Singapore's youngest Olympic medallist. While the 17-year-old's achievement unfolded in the waters of Marseille Marina, the journey started three years ago in Paris, the host city of the 2024 Games.
In a media interview alongside Maximilian on Aug 14 at the People's Association headquarters, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong revealed how he first learnt of the teenager's talent in 2021 through a former law school classmate, who happened to be Maximilian's aunt.
She had told him during a meeting in the French capital, "My nephew is a champion kitefoiler", prompting him to take notice.
"She told me about him... and that I should meet with him... and it struck a chord," said Tong.
"In the case of Max, the name kept coming up, and I spoke to the national sport association (of sailing), I talked to Dr Ben Tan (former Singapore Sailing Federation (SSF) president) and various other people, and he was constantly on the radar.
"So I then put a call through to my classmate and said, 'Can I meet with Max and his mum?'"
It is not often that a 14-year-old leaves an indelible mark on a minister, but that was exactly what Maximilian did at that very first meeting in 2021 at Tong's office.
The homeschooled teenager's maturity and keen grasp of mathematical concepts, and how they relate to the wind, "blew me away", Tong recalled.
"He was such a measured young boy, very mature, spoke about his sport in a very convincing way," said the sports minister.
"I think if you remember, you told me about trigonometry and wind direction," he said to Maximilian, to which the teenager quipped: "I mean, you asked a technical question. I couldn't help myself."
Work then started on finding a winning formula.
Tong looked at how Maximilian could be supported in both sporting and financial ways, paving the way for him to be competitive on the world stage in men's kitefoil. He went on to rack up multiple titles, including back-to-back world championships, before winning bronze at Paris 2024, where kitefoiling made its debut.
At the age of 11, Maximilian, who was born in Singapore to a Swiss father and Singaporean mother, made the choice to represent the Republic.
He said: "When it came time to say, 'hey, you have to choose one', in your mind it is something like, what do you want to eat for the rest of your life? Singapore chicken rice or Swiss cheese fondue?
"The choice seemed pretty obvious to me at the time. I mean, I was born here, right? And I felt like a Singaporean, and... I picked Singapore because I felt like it."
After deciding to represent Singapore, Maximilian began working with the SSF, the Kitesurfing Association of Singapore and other key sports institutions.
They tailored their support to his needs, allowing him to develop his talent while competing on the global stage. The National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI) and Singapore Sport Institute (SSI) played crucial roles, looking after him in various aspects, from nutrition to recovery, and helped him develop best practices from young.
A decision was then made to send Maximilian to the 2019 World Beach Games in Doha for exposure to multi-sport events.
Matthew Wylde, head of performance pathways science at NYSI, said: "Max was only 13 years old at the time but was already competing against adults. As this was his first exposure to a multi-sport games, we felt the experience would be critical to his longer-term development.
"NYSI's support centred around optimising his nutrition, heat management and recovery, habits that would be essential throughout his career. NYSI staff also travelled with him to the Games to guide the implementation of this knowledge into practice."
The SSF, recognising the need for flexibility, adapted its approach to support Maximilian. They bypassed typical national team requirements, focusing instead on nurturing his talent wherever he was based.
Dr Tan, a former Asian Games-winning sailor who personally assessed Maximilian's abilities when he was still SSF chief in 2018, ensured that the federation provided continuous support, leading to his inclusion in the prestigious spexScholarship programme in 2022.
But even then, acknowledging that the athlete would need more support, Minister Tong put the Maeder family in touch with local beverage company Yeo Hiap Seng (Yeo's).
In March 2022, Yeo's and the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation signed a three-year sponsorship agreement with Maximilian. While the quantum for the deal was not specified, the partnership provided the teenager with support in areas such as his training, equipment and personal development. Maximilian estimates that the annual cost of training and competing at his level can go up to about €250,000 (S$374,000).
In 2023, he went on to win triple gold — at the World Sailing Youth World Championships, World Championships and the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Tong emphasised that it "takes a village" to raise an athlete, highlighting the cohesive effort required from family, sports organisations and the Government to nurture young talent like Maximilian.
He said: "We saw Max when he was competing in the juniors, we decided that he was someone who showed potential, and we wanted to support him as far as possible.
"In many cases, that would have been so for many other young athletes, some reach the potential, some become major Games athletes, others don't. But our job is to ensure that we give the best support and allow each athlete to reach his or her own, no pun intended, max potential."
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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
