Chia Boon Leong: The Homegrown Football Olympian

Nicknamed “Twinkle Toes” for his agility, Chia Boon Leong (1925–2022) is widely regarded as one of Singapore‘s most talented football players. Academic and sports historian Nick Aplin talks about the footballer’s sporting achievements, his character and their friendship.Dr Nick Aplin is Deputy Director (Sport Heritage) at Sport Singapore. He is the author of the Sport in Singapore series: The Colonial Legacy (2019), The Rocky Road to Kallang Park (2023) and Visions for Change (2023).What Nick Talked About02:04 – How Boon Leong got his nickname, Twinkle Toes06:32 – How Boon Leong ended up in the Olympics playing for China08:23 – Nick's meeting with Boon Leong, and their friendship12:28 – Nick's research process and his start in writing about local athletes15:58 – How Nick's first meeting with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam went19:01 – Nick's book launch with the president as the guest of honour22:31 – How chess and sport are similar25:53 – What sport and history are to NickTranscript and ResourcesRead the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/podcast-chia-boon-leong-homegrown-football-olympian/Read the BiblioAsia article: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/vol-19-issue-4-jan-mar-2024-chia-boon-leong-football-soccer/Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Nick for coming on the show.The BiblioAsia Podcast by the National Library Singapore tells stories about Singapore history.