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Showing posts with label Lin Dan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lin Dan. Show all posts

Saturday 20 August 2016

Money, culture and the chase for Olympic gold


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https://youtu.be/-8qdKZhA_Uc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63BmkZeq2mo
https://youtu.be/o2h1d6clCeE


Although some countries offer financial incentives to its athletes, a genuine sporting culture may be the best guarantee of success at the Games.


SHOCK and awe just about sums up the stunning achievement of young Singaporean swimmer Joseph Schooling at the Rio Olympics.

His victory is classic David beating Goliath; he was the underdog from a tiny country that had never won an Olympic gold.

What made it all the sweeter and remarkable is that Schooling beat the mightiest, most decorated Olympian in history – American Michael Phelps who has won 23 gold medals – and set an impressive new record of 50.39 secs for the 100m butterfly event.

When news of Singapore’s first gold medal broke, it quickly overtook other stories emanating from Rio and became the talk of the world.

It eclipsed its Asean neighbours’ own Olympic gold successes: Vietnam’s shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh in the 10m air pistol competition and Thailand’s weightlifters Sopita Tanasan and Sukanya Srisurat in their individual weight classes and certainly overshadowed Malaysian diving duo Pandelela Rinong and Cheong Jun Hoong’s silver in the women’s synchronised 10m platform diving.

All are no small feats but there is a total of 28 sports in the Games, not counting those with multiple disciplines, and the most popular ones for a global audience are gymnastics, track and field and swimming, according to topendsports.com.

Among Asian nations competing in the Games, China and Japan are traditionally strong contenders in gymnastics and swimming although the Chinese gymnasts seem to be doing poorly this time around.

For most other Asian competitors, the sports they excel in tend to be the ones with less mass appeal like archery, shooting, judo, badminton and for some strange reason, women’s weightlifting.

Apart from the Thais, Taiwanese, Filipina and Indonesian female weightlifters have also won medals for their countries.

China remains the sporting powerhouse of Asia, sending its largest delegation of 416 athletes to Rio this year, but they have failed to defend their gold medals in sports they used to dominate like badminton and diving.

As for the glamorous track and field events, there doesn’t seem to be any Asian athlete who can challenge the likes of Usain Bolt.

Meanwhile, the other Asian powerhouse, India, with the second largest population in the world, has never done well at the Olympics, which has been the subject of intense debate among Indian and foreign sports pundits.

India also sent its biggest ever contingent of 118 sportsmen and women, and has so far won only a bronze medal in wrestling. Winning an Olympic gold medal is the Holy Grail of sports.

The pomp that surrounds the Games gives the gold medallists unparalleled honour and prestige. And the nations they represent go into collective convulsions of ecstasy and nationalistic joy, which make their governments equally happy.

That’s why many nations pour millions into sports programmes to nurture and train promising talents and offer great financial rewards to successful Olympians.

Schooling will get S$1mil (RM3mil) from the Singapore government for his gold medal. Vietnam’s Hoang reportedly will receive US$100,000 (RM400,000), a figure, according to AFP, that is nearly 50 times greater than the country’s average national income, of around US$2,100 (RM8,400).

Malaysia, which is seeing its best ever performance in Rio, thanks to its badminton players and divers, rewards its successful athletes handsomely under its National Sports Council incentive scheme.

An Olympic gold medal winner will receive RM1mil and a monthly pension of RM5,000; a silver medallist, RM600,000 and a RM3,000 pension while a bronze winner gets RM100,000 and a RM2,000 pension.

Taiwan, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand have similar monetary reward schemes. North Korea uses a carrot and stick scheme: huge rewards for medal winners and hard labour for the failed ones.

Several western countries have the same financial bait, including the United States, France, Russia and Germany, but at a lower rate.

Does it work?

The Technology Policy Institute looked for a correlation and was mindful of variables like country size and income, “since those are surely the biggest predictor of how many medals a country will win: more populous countries are more likely to have that rare human who is physically built and mentally able to become an Olympic athlete, while richer countries are more likely to be able to invest in training those people.”

The researchers found no correlation between monetary payments and medals and said it was not surprising in some countries. In the United States, for example, a US$25,000 (RM100,000) cash award would be dwarfed by million-dollar endorsements the athlete could get.

The researchers also set out to see if the results were different for countries with lower opportunities for endorsements. Their conclusion: “overall the evidence suggests that these payments don’t increase the medal count” either.

Rather, countries that do well are those with a longstanding sporting culture that values and nurtures their athletes long before they qualify for the Olympics.

That is evident in Western societies where sportsmen, even at the college level, are feted and idolised. In Asia, however, the emphasis is more on book-learning and earning prestigious degrees.

The BBC quotes Indian Olympic Association head Narayana Ramachandran as saying India’s sorry performance is more than just a shortage of cash or organisation.

“Sport has always taken a back seat vis-á-vis education. Most Indian families would prefer their children became dentists or accountants than Olympians,” he says.

But that attitude is surely changing as more Asian sportsmen and women go professional and are able to make a good living.

In Malaysia, its most popular sportsman, badminton star Datuk Lee Chong Wei, is highly successful with a number of endorsements under his belt.

For now, it is still the Western countries that dominate the Olympic medal tally table. But it’s only a matter of time before more Asian nations, once no-hopers at the Games, rise up the charts.

It’s already started. The Rio Games will go down in history as a watershed for Asean, with two member states – Singapore and Vietnam – winning their first gold medals. May it be so for Malaysia, too.

 By June H.L Wong Chief Operating Officer (Content Development) The Star, Malaysia.
The writer was the former group chief editor of The Star Media Group Malaysia. This is the eighth article in a series of columns on global affairs written by top editors from members of the Asia News Network and published in newspapers across the region.

Heartbreak again for Chong Wei, Chen Long takes gold


https://youtu.be/63BmkZeq2mo

RIO DE JANEIRO: Lee Chong Wei, the king of Malaysian badminton, will leave the Rio de Janeiro Olympics without the crown – and so will Malaysia without the coveted gold.

The 33-year-old lost his third Olympic final after going down 18-21, 18-21 to Chen Long at the Riocentro Pavilion 4 on Saturday.

It was indeed a painful end for Malaysia as it was the third false dawn. Earlier, Malaysia had also lost in the men’s doubles and mixed doubles finals.

Malaysia thus will return home with a total of four silvers and one bronze.

The other three silvers came from Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying (mixed doubles), Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (men’s doubles) and divers Pandelela Rinong-Cheong Jun Hoong (women’s 10m platform synchro). Cyclist Azizulhasni Awang contributed the sole bronze through the men’s keirin.

Both Chong Wei, playing in probably his last Olympics, and Chen Long went onto the court to loud cheers from their countries’ supporters.

Chong Wei, who lost to Lin Dan at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London finals, looked tentative in the beginning to allow Chen Long to open up a 4-0 lead. But he recovered his composure to lead 5-4.

After that, they traded point until it was 7-7 before Chong Wei pulled away for an 11-7 and then 14-10 lead.

But Chen Long refused to go away and managed to level at 14-14.

Twice Chong Wei surged in front but Chen Long capitalised on the Malaysian’s mistakes at the net to lead 20-17. Although world No. 1 Chong Wei managed to save one match point, his failure to return a smash gave Chen Long a 21-18 win in 35 minutes.

Oozing confidence, Chen Long was always in front in the second game – leading 4-1 and 5-2.

But Chong Wei fought back to go 8-5 up. Chen Long then went on a smashing spree, winning six points for an 11-8 advantage.

The 27-year-old world No. 2 never looked back after that as he always had at least a three-point lead.

Everything looked lost for Chong Wei as Chen Long reached 20-16. The Malaysian saved two match points but then sent the shuttle out to lose 18-21 in 38 minutes.

For Chen Long, it was his first Olympic gold to add to his two All-England and World Championships crowns.

Chong Wei can only look in envy as he’s still without a world or Olympic crown. He also lost in three World Championships finals.

Chen Long’s gold was only China’s second at these Games after Fu Haifeng-Zhang Nan triumphed in the men’s doubles.

Earlier, two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan fell from grace in probably his last Olympic outing after losing 21-15, 10-21, 17-21 to Dane Viktor Axelson in the 70-minute bronze medal playoff.

Medals By Countries - Rio 2016

London 2012 Olympics - Medal Table

Rio 2016 Asia Regional Aug 21 Medal by Countries

 

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Joseph Schooling celebrates his gold win next to Michael Phelps on Aug 12. PHOTO: REUTERS https://youtu.be/-JTwPEutLdY RIO DE JANEIRO...


The Olympic flame burns in Maracana Stadium during the opening ceremony at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug 5, 20...


Malaysia must develop new sport talents after Chong Wei

Thursday 9 August 2012

Malaysia must develop new sport talents after Chong Wei

We need to simultaneously develop badminton talent and push other sports to stand a decent chance of doing well in the Olympics.

ANYONE who saw the match between Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei and China’s Lin Dan for the Olympics badminton gold would not blame Chong Wei for losing.

At the end it was so close that it could have gone either way but Chong Wei was left with silver, his second consecutive defeat to Lin Dan in the Olympics final.



There are two things that come out starkly in the wake of that memorable match – one, there is a dearth of badminton talent for Malaysia after Chong Wei exits the stage. Two, the focus of all that attention on badminton and that elusive gold detracts from some real achievements made by Malaysia in other sports in this Olympics.

If badminton had been an Olympic sport in the 1950s, Malaysia, then Malaya, would have most likely got a gold in either the singles or doubles or both in which they were dominating the world at that time.

For eight straight years from 1950 to 1957, Malaysians Eddy Choong and Wong Peng Soon took the All-England badminton singles title, the de facto world title, sharing it equally between themselves at four times each. Over this period, Malaysians were doubles champions four times.

But after 1957, the Danes and the Indonesians dominated with Tan Aik Huang in 1966 being the lone Malaysian winner until Muhammad Hafidz Hashim pulled a surprise win in 2003. And then Chong Wei came on the scene, winning in 2010 and 2011 and losing to Lin Dan this year after having beaten him in 2011.

We had a better showing in the doubles since the 1950s with Ng Boon Bee and Tan Yee Khan, winning in 1965 and 1966. In 1971, Boon Bee won with Punch Gunalan and then it was a long break before brothers Razik and Jalani Sidek in 1982. There was one more victory in 2007 from Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong. The pair lost in the play-off for the bronze in the current Olympics.

The main change in the badminton scene was the rise of China and South Korea from the 80s to become world beaters, with China being strong in both singles and doubles and South Korea in doubles.

Among the traditionally strong badminton countries such as Indonesia, Denmark and Malaysia, Malaysia has had the greatest decline, with Chong Wei’s arrival on the scene stopping the slide somewhat.

Now, in the world ranking for badminton we have just one, yes one player, in the top 25 – Chong Wei trailing Lin Dan at No 2. China has five (seven if you include Hong Kong), Indonesia has four, Denmark has four, Japan has two and India has two.

Malaysians in the top 50 are Daren Liew at 27, Muhammad Hafidz Hashim at 30, Chong Wei Feng at 32 and Tan Chun Seang at 39, illustrating the yawning chasm between our next best players and Chong Wei.

In men’s doubles, we have just two pairs in the top 25, one of whom is Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong, ranked eighth.

With Chong Wei going into his thirties, the outlook for badminton is pretty bleak indeed and with it goes our hopes for gold for a while with our performance in other sports too far below the best.

If squash had been included, we would have had a big hope in world champion Nicol David but it wasn’t.

It would be too tiresome to go into the details of the decline of badminton in Malaysia and sports in general but let us dwell instead on some positive performances by our other athletes which deserve praise and recognition.

Archer Khairul Anuar Mohd reached the quarter-finals in the individual event which puts him among the top eight in the world.

Divers Pandelela Rinong and Leong Mun Yee finished in seventh place in the 10m synchronised platform diving event. Pandelala partnered Cheong Jun Hoong for eighth position in the 3m springboard synchronised event. Bryan Nickson Lomas and Huang Qiang finished eighth in the men’s synchronised 3m springboard event.

Another diver, Yeoh Ken Nee, finished 10th in the men’s 3m springboard event.

As you read this, results for Pandelela’s individual event will be out. And look out for Bryan too.

In cycling, the “pocket rocketman” Mohd Azizulhasni Awang came sixth in keirin behind much more heralded opponents.

Some of these athletes’ performances have been described as “miserable” and “disappointing” but they are anything but that. Seventh or eighth in a field of eight finalists or sixth in a final field of six is often – very wrongly – looked at as last or second last.

But it is not – you are the sixth or seventh or eighth or tenth in the world! To get into the final round of an event in the Olympics is an honour for any country. What a fantastic achievement that is for Malaysians in sports that Malaysia had never excelled in before at the Olympics.

It is this kind of achievement that will build future champions and it is this kind of dedication and passion for the sport that will help to regain glory in badminton for Malaysia.

But let’s be circumspect about the Olympics. It is sports after all and sportsmanship and participation is just as important as achievement. If our best participate, and they do their best with the limited resources wisely spent on them, there is nothing more we can ask from them. Let’s not put too much pressure on them.

Along with Chong Wei in badminton, we must recognise and acknowledge our archers, divers and cyclists for the great achievements that they have made in their respective sport and nurture and build upon their budding talents so that they do better in future.

> P. Gunasegaram’s sleep patterns have been somewhat altered by the Olympics and he wonders if some key events like the 100m and 200m finals could not have been held at times more friendly to Asian audiences.

Related posts:
Malaysia's Datuk Lee Chong Wei vs China's Lin Dan; what difference for winner/loser?
Olympics badminton: China's Lin Dan defeats Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei for gold
Malaysia raising the bar on Olympic golden incentives
Malaysians in high spirits as Chong Wei gears up for Olympic gold!

London Olympics Medal Count
Leaders

Total
1
China352119
75
2
United States301922
71
3
Great Britain221313
48
4
Korea1256
23
5
Russia101820
48
6
France8911
28
7
Germany71510
32
8
Italy764
17
9
Hungary623
11
10
Kazakhstan6-1
7
11
Australia5129
26
12
Netherlands536
14
13
Iran431
8
14
DPR Korea4-1
5
15
Cuba331
7
16
New Zealand325
10
17
Belarus324
9
18
South Africa31-
4
19
Ukraine3-6
9
20
Japan21314
29
21
Romania252
9
22
Denmark243
9
23
Brazil216
9
24
Poland215
8
25
Jamaica211
4
26
Croatia21-
3
27
Ethiopia2-2
4
28
Spain151
7
29
Canada148
13
30
Sweden133
7
31
Czech Republic131
5
32
Kenya122
5
33
Slovenia112
4
34
Georgia111
3
34
Norway111
3
36
Dominican Republic11-
2
36
Switzerland11-
2
38
Lithuania1-1
2
39
Algeria1--
1
39
Grenada1--
1
39
Venezuela1--
1
42
Mexico-32
5
43
Colombia-31
4
44
Egypt-2-
2
45
India-13
4
45
Slovakia-13
4
47
Armenia-12
3
47
Azerbaijan-12
3
47
Belgium-12
3
50
Estonia-11
2
50
Indonesia-11
2
50
Mongolia-11
2
50
Serbia-11
2
50
Tunisia-11
2
55
Cyprus-1-
1
55
Finland-1-
1
55
Guatemala-1-
1
55
Malaysia-1-
1
55
Portugal-1-
1
55
Thailand-1-
1
55
Chinese Taipei-1-
1
62
Greece--2
2
62
Moldova--2
2
62
Qatar--2
2
62
Singapore--2
2
66
Argentina--1
1
66
Hong Kong, China--1
1
66
Saudi Arabia--1
1
66
Morocco--1
1
66
Puerto Rico--1
1
66
Tajikistan--1
1
66
Trinidad and Tobago--1
1
66
Turkey--1
1
66
Uzbekistan--1
1
66
Kuwait--1
1
55
Malaysia-1-
1