A total of 26 athletes, including three wildcard invites, will be looking forward to their chance to rise to the occasion. The wildcards may just want to impress but there are those who can make the golden dream come true.
Track cycling ace Azizulhasni Awang is still among the best in the world, men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia is on the rebound and doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik have also stated their intention to win Malaysia’s first gold since the country first participated in the Games back in 1956.
Azizulhasni, however, is not getting any younger. At 36, he will be the oldest track cyclist competing in Paris in the competition from Aug 6-11 but he could be pushed by his younger compatriot Muhammad Shah Firdaus Shahrom to a grand finale.
Zii Jia was inconsistent for a long time but has shown some promise over the last two months while Aaron-Wooi Yik have the tendency to crack under pressure despite being the most consistent Malaysian elite athletes today.
It will still be a touch-and-go affair in Paris. The more important question is – where do we go after Paris?
Do we have the athletes who can be serious medal contenders in Los Angeles four years from now and in Brisbane in 2032?
Do we even have what it takes to see athletes qualifying in certain sports?
Azizul will certainly not be around while the likes of Zii Jia and Aaron-Wooi Yik will already be in the twilight of their badminton careers.
The Youth and Sports Ministry and National Sports Council (NSC) really needs to get to work as soon as the Paris Games end and address the dearth of world class talents coming up.
Diving is a good example of how Malaysia’s fortunes have changed. We boasted of having eight diving qualifiers at London Olympics in 2012, but there will only be two in Paris.
And one of them - Nur Dhabitah Sabri - can count herself lucky to be awarded one of the reallocated diving quota in the women’s 3m springboard individual. Platform specialist Bertrand Rhodict was the only qualifier before that.
NSC and the national sports bodies were content to ride on past glory and rely on the likes of Pandelela Rinong and Cheong Jun Hoong without realising that age would catch up with them.
The failure of the diving squad to secure more Olympic slots have led to a complete revamp of the diving programme. It is good that NSC initiated a fast track programme for diving by roping in Bertrand and another promising youngster Enrique Maccartney Harold to groom them for the 2028 LA Games.
NSC would do well to take this approach in other sports, especially the ones that are contested at the Olympics like shooting, archery and track cycling.
They need to enhance the national back up programme and get good coaches who can polish the athletes further.
Track cycling coach John Beasley did the right thing by recommending that Herman Terryn be put in charge of the back-up programme and not the elite squad despite having an impressive resume when the Frenchman was recruited.
Beasley will become the technical director for Malaysian cycling and his job will be taken over by Harnizam Basri, whom he has groomed for the last few years.
Terryn was the man behind French star Mathilde Gros rise to become the women’s sprint world champion in 2022. And it is this kind of know-how that the back-up cyclists really need.
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