Channel NewsAsia presents: Fighting Tall

The Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games will kick off with over 10,000 athletes from 205 countries competing for glory in 42 different sports.  

Channel NewsAsia’s documentary, Fighting Tall, follows eight athletes from Southeast Asia – a region not known for producing Olympic winners, having collectively produced only 13 gold medals in the entire history of the Olympics.  The 8-part series explores and observes each athlete’s journey to the upcoming Olympics, focusing on the emotional and personal experiences of each athlete, living their lives and seeing the Olympics through their eyes.

The producers meet each athlete to observe their intensive daily training routines as they shared details on the hardships faced – the side with the least attention spent because of the high expectations on them to deliver results.  With so many personal sacrifices and endurance needed to achieve sporting success, it begs the ultimate question of: “Why is it worth it?”. 

Fighting Tall debuts with a journey to Kenya – the country with the world’s fastest long-distance runners.  Soh Rui Yong, Singapore’s home-grown marathoner and Southeast Asian (SEA) Games champion 2015, is all set to achieve the greatest milestone in his career.  Rui Yong will run, eat and sleep like a Kenyan for seven weeks.  The producers find out if the high-altitude training would help him shave seven minutes off his personal best to qualify for Rio 2016 Olympics.

The programme will be aired from 23 to 25 June 2016.