[p1acebo]

My take on this is not everything is like business world.. There are things that you can't buy via acquisition or merger. Things like sense of identity, sense of belonging etc..

Just asked ourselves, for Singapore imported sportsmen or sportswomen, how many eventually settled down in Singapore and continue to contribute to groom our next generation sportsmen/sportswomen after they retire from competitive sports?

If we just want to feel proud by having someone to win gold medal for us, I suggest govt do the following:

1) Stop all funding we give to any sports now and ask TH to chip in as well.. Pool all money (say 10 billions USD) and get Caeleb Dressel to give up US citizenship and take Singapore citizenship

2) To prevent dip in form like what happened to JS, sponsor Caeleb Dressel to continue to train in US.. He just need to wear the Singapore flag uniform when he represent Singapore in competitions.. Other than that, he can live, breathe like an American

But asked ourselves. Under this arrangement, even if Caeleb Dressel win 20 gold medals for us in next Olympics, do you feel proud at all?

Agreed. Nothing to be proud of if Dressel wins for us.  Not everything can be bought with money.