Young ones we can envy: (clockwise from left) 23-year-old St Lucia sprinter Julien Alfred, Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle (20), Indonesian weightlifter Rizki Juniansyah (21) delivered goals while Japan’s Rikuto Tamai, only 17, handed Japan their first ever Olympic medal in diving.
NSC programme must include other sports and push up the youngsters early
MANY young athletes turned the Paris Olympics into their playground over the course of two weeks.
Julien Alfred, only 23, chalked up a historic 100m win to give St Lucia their first ever Olympic medal.
Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle, only 20, pulled off what once was thought impossible by slashing 0.40s off his own world record time of 46.80s in winning the 100m freestyle event while Indonesia showed they are no longer dependent on badminton alone after weightlifter Rizki Juniansyah, only 21, heaved his way to the men’s 73kg gold medal.
And Malaysia can only look on in envy as Rikuto Tamai, only 17, handed Japan their first ever Olympic medal in diving when he claimed silver in the men’s 10m platform event on Saturday.
It hits home the message that it pays for Malaysia to invest in the young and make sure we have broader chances to be on the podium in sports other than badminton and cycling.
The Paris Olympics drew to a close on Sunday as Malaysia’s quest to win the first gold medal continued.
Badminton saved the blushes by delivering two bronze medals as Malaysia finished with their worst outing at the Olympics in 20 years despite spending close to RM7mil just for the Road to Gold (RTG) programme.
It was in the 2004 edition in Athens where Malaysia finished empty handed. Malaysia have bagged at least one silver in subsequent editions, thanks to Datuk Lee Chong Wei (badminton) and Azizulhasni Awang (track cycling).
Men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik retained the bronze medal they won in Tokyo while professional Lee Zii Jia secured his first Olympic bronze in the men’s singles event.
Zii Jia is not under the government funded (RTG) programme but the independent shuttler was given a small financial aid for his mission in Paris.
Zii Jia and Wooi Yik will be 30 while Aaron will be 31 at the next Games in Los Angeles.
M. Thinaah and Pearly Tan, who earned cheers for the nation by fighting their way to fourth place in the women’s doubles despite being ranked outside the top 10, will be 30 and 28 respectively by the next Olympics.
As for cyclist Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom, he will be 32.
We will likely be still depending on these athletes for Los Angeles but we must start to plan now to get the next generation of athletes ready.
The National Sports Council (NSC) have done the right thing by establishing the Fast Track programme for diving and squash, which will make their Olympic debut in Los Angeles.
But they must also work together with the respective national sports bodies to expand it to other sports like weightlifting, track cycling or archery.
The Fast Track programme is for athletes under the age of 21 and ranked in the world’s top 20.
Weightlifter Aniq Kasdan, 22, showed there is the possibility of an Olympic medal coming from the sport after narrowly missing out by 1kg with his fourth place finish in the men’s 61kg class.
Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines have produced Olympic champions in weightlifting, so there is no reason why Malaysia are not able to join our neighbours with the right vision and meticulous planning.
Young cyclist Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri, only 20, has shown signs that she can be the female version of Azizul in track cycling and should use the next four years to strengthen herself physically and gain more racing experience to be ready for Los Angeles.
Izzah, already a three-time Asian champion at her age, had a promising Olympic debut when she managed to post a new personal best in the sprint event.
Diver Bertrand Rhodict, 19, did not have a good Olympic debut when he missed out on the top 18 semi-finals but will take the lesson to do better next time once he masters the more complex dives.
Former Malaysian cycling star Josiah Ng said developing and identifying the next top athlete would take two Olympic cycles at the least.
“Champions are not built overnight. Azizul was more than ready to take over from me when I stopped riding and we hope Shah Firdaus is the one after this but surely we can do with more.
“It’s never good to depend on just one athlete in one sport to carry the burden to win gold.
“I could see that Azizul was not his usual self (in the keirin first round heat) and it could be the pressure of delivering the medal everyone was expecting him to and he made the mistake he should not have done.
“The thing is that the bike gears are now so big and it’s hard to stop the momentum once you start to speed, so he could not stop it from moving past the derny.
“Australia, Britain, Canada, Holland, are regular Olympic gold medal winners, so the pressure is different where as Malaysia put such huge expectations on one athlete,” said the former Olympian.
While Azizul joins Chong Wei, Nicol David (squash), Shalin Zulkifli (bowling) into retirement, Malaysia truly needs athletes with calibre and character to shine in sports, with an eye on the LA2028.
