First of all, congratulation to Chong Wei for his silver. I know it is a hard earned achievement and therefore credits go to him and his charismatic coach. Finally, Malaysia's quest for a gold is postponed to yet another Olympic - a disappointment to everyone back home but at least we have one silver to boast, if anyone dare!
Many will say that at least we returned with one medal instead of coming home empty ended and continued by comparing smaller nations and nations which return empty handed. Well, enough for excuses and we need to seriously look at our weaknesses and stop comparing ourselves with other nations which are not our equals- just like what happened during the debate between DSAI and DASC when the honourable Minister lashed out and defended the government's action by comparing ours with nations which were not even our equals. Just like when they compared economic achievement of ours with smaller and less developed nations. Have they forgotten that once Malaysia was considered as an emerging Asian Tiger? Perhaps we still are but presently we are more like a toothless infant tiger!
We have all the facilities, incentives and everything to boost our competitiveness, just name it we have it or we will have it. We have National Sports Institute, National Sports Council, sports schools and many more which offer equivalent or even better facilities than those countries we used to compare ourselves to but we still lag behind those less and underdeveloped nations which we are so keen to compare with. Once, we dreamed of having a High Performance Training Centre in U.K on the pretense that it will be good training ground for our budding athletes. Thank god the government decided to shelf the idea since it will not achieved its ideal purpose - to produce international athletes.
What do the African and the Caribbean nations that we do not own? In fact, we have more than what they have, most of the time they have to improvise to simulate actual surroundings and the tools but here we don't have to since we have the actual things. Many of the African athletes are even sponsored by others to compete in the Olympics, without which they may not realised their dreams and they take the generousity by winning golds not silvers or bronzes.
Unlike us, one athlete even managed not to compete because of technicality, what a waste since the government and the athlete him or herself have to fork out expenses to be in Beijing but sadly that athlete did not even managed to compete. It is better if one managed to compete but did not win rather than being disqualified, he or she does not even qualify to be called a loser!
Back home months before the Olympics, the authorities as well as the medias were busy voicing out their confidence or winning or at least achieving respectable results. Very typical our Malaysians just like Pak Kaduk who lost his village though in terms of support and cheering he won outright and just like the hen which bore an egg but it was such a ruckus as if she bore thousand of eggs.
For some times now, we are well-known for our excellent organising feats. We have the Commonwealth Games in 98, Formula 1 Grand Prix and many others from which we received countless praises but as far as our athletes' achievements are concerned, it is very disappointing and even a disgrace. Now, Football Association of Malaysia has decided to ban foreign players in the banal Malaysia League and local athletes are crying fouls for influx of African athletes in long distance run. They have the audacity to claim that those foreigners are just reaping away the success from the locals or is it really the locals who seemed at lost which it comes to competitiveness?
Even with the 1 million ringgits incentive, our athletes failed miserably and honestly I am overjoyed that they failed to get the lucrative incentive as it is really unfair to the majority suffering Malaysians due to the steep prices and giving away financial incentives is detrimental since they will compete not because of their love for the nation but rather for the love of the cash. The government has done more than enough for them as they have everything they need to train and achieve glory as they are supposed to do. They are not doing them for free as they receive salaries or at least lucrative allowances as well as other benefits. Many athletes are not as lucky as our Malaysian athletes who have to endure great difficulties to realise their dreams of Olympics gold.
Some may counter that lady luck is not with us this year thus we need to be content with only a silver. Baaah.....we live not because of fate alone, it is a culmination of many factors and need I remind you of Allah's decree in the Holy Quran that He will not change the fate of the people unless they themselves have the courage and effort to do so. Stop blaming fate or other circumstances since it is the MAIN task of the athletes to train and finally achieve something in the end. Most of them are paid to train and compete and nothing else but they fail the country miserably and they should be ashamed of themselves.
While the athletes are busy day dreaming of gold medals the managements themselves are busy bickering with each other rather than doing something meaningful to help the athletes under their supervision to glory. It has been the trend for so long and they need to realise that the associations are supposed to groom and produce quality athletes and not for self glorification. Sports should be about sports, competing and winning not politics or just token participation. We need to change our attitude and mind set that sports is merely about participation and competition but it is about winning and nothing else. Both the athletes and the officials are there to ensure at least we compete at our full strength physically and mentally.
Size is a factor but certainly not the only factor as we have personally see during the Olympics. It will be very sad if the athletes and the officials start to point fingers and blame others for their debacle. Blame yourselves and stop short of baling others since you are given the responsibility to carry the nation's name in Beijing and not others! Have the courage to accept blame!
Sports is not about playing it is a responsibility
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