NOW that the collective outburst of emotions from our national contingent’s best ever Olympic campaign has subsided, it is time to take a cold, hard look at the lessons from Rio and what we need to do to plan for Tokyo 2020.
As the chief custodian of Malaysian sports, I need to look at our performance dispassionately and examine what went right, what went wrong and how we maximise the former in four years.
Let’s start with the obvious. Badminton continues to be our number one contributor of Olympic medals. But this time we added mixed doubles as an event in which we can score podium success.
What this means is we need to ensure we are competitive in all badminton events, not just the men’s singles and doubles.
When the National Sports Council arranged Morten Frost’s appointment as BAM Technical Director, my brief to him was simple: maximise our potential to strike gold in all events by 2020.
Our shuttlers took a huge step in that direction at Rio and Frost will have to ensure we have depth in our squad – younger players breaking into the world top 20 in all categories over the next few years. This will be supported by the completion of the national badminton academy in Bukit Kiara by the end of this year.
We also need to enhance our diving team. The level of competition is going up with more countries competing for the diving podium.
We have a young team but, like badminton, need more depth with a bigger pool of junior divers being tested internationally early on.
I have spoken with head coach Yang Zhuliang and we will be appointing more coaches and upgrading training equipment immediately in order to have a competitive training base in Kuala Lumpur as well as our current overseas base in China.
Cycling created history by becoming the third and latest sport to contribute a medal for Malaysia. Again, we need a bigger pool rather than relying on just one or two riders.
The completion of the National Velodrome in Nilai and the refurbishment of the Ipoh Velodrome will provide good facilities to spot and nurture new talent that can be sent to our overseas base in Melbourne.
Archery, shooting and sailing had a relatively lacklustre outing in Rio. These were sports identified in our strategic plan because they are not disadvantageous to countries whose athletes have smaller physiques.
Vietnam earned their first gold from shooting. We need to revisit the efficacy of all these programmes including better equipment, competition exposure and sports science integration under the Podium Programme to ensure we can add more sports that can contribute medals in Tokyo and onwards.
Our other participants came home with mixed results. Some broke or equalled national records and their own personal bests.
That was the clear target for non-medal prospects. The Olympics are not to be treated as a vacation, but a platform for them to do their best even if that could not earn a spot on the podium.
Looking forward to Tokyo, there are a few milestones that need to be set in place. We have four years but we are not beginning from scratch.
There are many Rio Olympians who will still be around to challenge for medals in 2020. But they must be joined by emerging athletes.
Many of these athletes have already been identified and will be breaking through in the next few years in their respective sports’ competitions – the SEA Games next year and the Asian and Commonwealth Games in 2018.
Many people have asked me if we have successors to the present heroes. We do, and they will be coming out of the shadows of present greats during this next Olympic cycle.
We also need to look at other sports which have not yet tasted Olympic success but may have the potential to do so in the future. Tokyo has added new sports including karate where we can strike medals.
We will do an in-depth analysis of all sports where there is potential for Malaysian athletes to succeed. Look at how Thailand decided years ago to focus on women’s weightlifting because the weight classification would not disadvantage them from a physical aspect. Both their golds in Rio came from women’s weightlifting.
I will also be fighting hard for the Podium Programme to continue to receive the funding it deserves. Although it is too soon to be felt fully in Rio, the support that came from the programme through better services in psychology, physiotherapy, nutrition and video analysis enhanced our contingent’s overall performance.
Barring funding cuts and changes to policy, the full effect of Podium will be felt in 2018 during the Asian and Commonwealth Games onwards. Sports associations will also be brought on board. I do not like the over-centralisation of sports development under the National Sports Council.
Associations should be empowered on condition that they are well run and have good strategic plans in place for development. We have encouraged empowerment in the run up to the SEA Games under the Kita Juara programme by making associations part of the planning and execution process, but most crucially channelling funding through them with tight monitoring in place.
Associations will also need to train more technical officials so we can have an edge in understanding what judges are looking for. For example, despite Malaysia now being a world-class diving nation, we did not have a single judge at the Olympics.
This is also a time for us to examine longer-term structural changes. I have always said that success lies in development.
Get the grassroots development right and we will have a bigger and stronger pool of talent to choose from. That is why we have invested more in development (National Football Development Programme, Junior Cycling Malaysia, with swimming and athletics to come in collaboration with the Olympic Council’s SportExcel programme) and also mass participation events (Fit Malaysia, Hari Sukan Negara) to encourage everyone to become involved in sports. In broadening the base and creating ecosystems, we create a culture of high performance throughout.
We also have to accept that sports development largely revolves around the schooling system in Malaysia and is not club-based like other countries. This is why my recommendation to the Prime Minister would be to give sports to the Education Ministry.
Many countries combine education and sports at the ministerial level. I think it would improve coordination, save money, open up and improve facilities, and create a smooth pathway from schools to elite sports development.
When many ministries and departments want to make themselves bigger, I choose to swim in the Blue Ocean and offer up half my ministry because ultimately it’s not about departmental turf but getting the job done better and more effectively.
And then there is continuity. I believe we must not change horses midway. There is a foundation that has been laid that needs to be executed fully, regardless of the personnel running the show. You don’t create champions overnight.
That’s why immediately after the end of competition in Rio, I paid tribute to my predecessor, Shabery Cheek, who together with officers like Zolkples Embong and Dr Ramlan Aziz set the train in motion after London 2012.
Although a new team is in place, we were able to build upon a strong base that they left behind.
It is important that what we need to create is not a personal legacy of a minister or a director-general but a legacy for the nation devoid of individual motivations.
There were many reasons for our success in Rio. But one that I would like to single out is something intangible that needs to be institutionalised – the winning mentality.
Although the top step on the podium was denied, all our medal winners had that winning mentality to go for gold.
They got silvers and bronze not because they settled for it, but because there were others who were better or luckier on the day.
At no point were our medal winners aiming for anything less than gold. We need to instil this winning mentality among all our athletes. Drill in into their DNA that they are hungry for the win and will not settle for anything less.
We have had enough of mediocrity. Now we demand success, consistently. Finally, to the Malaysian contingent: the nation has nothing but pride for all of you, especially our medal winners.
Yes, the gold medal remains elusive but what you gave the nation was golden. A sense of belief. A moment of unity. A demonstration that Malaysia Boleh is not just a slogan but a reality.
Mark my words, you have inspired a generation of future Olympians who will look back one day and say that they dared to dream of becoming a champion when they saw your glory in Rio. Our best ever Olympics.
Khairy Jamaluddin is the Minister of Youth and Sports. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.
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