Public hail S'pore's Olympians, including Max, in parade through town

After making history, Maximilian Maeder said his main goal was to bring joy to his countrymen through his sporting achievements.

- Osmond Chia and Deepanraj Ganesan

The 17-year-old, who bagged the bronze in the men's kite event, witnessed that joy first hand on Aug 14 -five days after his feat on Singapore's 59th birthday - when more than 5,000 people at various spots in downtown Singapore lined up to cheer on the kite foiler and nine other returning Olympians during a celebratory parade on an opentop bus, The bus carrying Maximilian-Singapore youngest Olympic medallist badminton players Yeo Jia Min, Terry Hee and Jessica Tan, swimmer Gan Ching Hwee, kayaker Stephenie Chen, sailor Ryan Lo, sprinter Marc Louis and table tennis players Izaac Quek and Zhou Jingyi, set off from the Singapore Sports Hub shortly after 11.30am.

It returned to Kallang nearly 2½ hours later after making its way through five key locations Bayfront Avenue, Chinatown, the Orchard Road shopping belt, Serangoon Road and Victoria Street.

As the bus cruised through each spot, many people showed their appreciation by waving Singapore flags, holding up posters - including one that read "I skipped work to see Max Maeder" - and shouting words of endearment like "We love you" Some in vehicles wound down their windows to wave at the athletes, while others honked their approval. Some even whipped out their mobile phones for a quick snap.