What comes to your mind when you think about Paris?
For those of you who are in love, you might think of Paris as a city of romance.
For those of you who adore all things chic, you might think of Paris as a fashion capital, relating to renowned brands like Dior, Chanel and Louis Vuitton.
If you are a sports fan, you would immediately think of Paris as the host city of the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics.
As the big day draws closer, let's do a little recap of how far we have come throughout the Olympic games.
In this article, we will review the glorious achievements of our fellow Malaysian athletes who have made history as Olympic medallists in their respective fields.
Back to the 90s: The Birth Of The First Malaysian Olympics Medal
1992 was a legendary year for badminton fans worldwide. For the first time, badminton was introduced as a medal sport at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics.
The very same year, the Sidek brothers — Jalani Sidek and Razif Sidek delivered Malaysia's first ever Olympics medal (a bronze medal) through the men's doubles competition.
- During the first round, Jalani and Razif won against their Indian opponents, Vimal Kumar and Deepankar Bhattacharya in straight sets: 15-6, 15-3.
- In the second round, they went on to beat their Denmark opponents, Jon Holst-Christensen and Thomas Lund in straight sets: 15-12, 15-6.
- They then advanced to the quarter-finals and won over Shuji Matsuno and Shinji Matsuura from Japan, also in straight sets: 15-5, 15-4.
- During the semi-finals, Jalani and Razif unfortunately lost to Kim Moon-Soo and Park Joo-Bong from South Korea in a close match:11-15, 13-15.
Jalani and Razif shared the bronze medal title with Li Yongbo and Tian Bingyi from China as there was no bronze medal match during that year.
Source: Berita Harian
The dominance of Malaysian badminton players continued to grow in the next Olympic games which were held in Atlanta in 1996.
Another Sidek brother, Rashid Sidek won the nation's second bronze medal in the men's single competition after beating Heryanto Arbi from Indonesia through a nerve-racking engaging rubber game (5-15, 15-11. 15-6) in the bronze medal match.
In the same year, Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock delivered the nation's first silver medal through the men's doubles competition where they had a good fight with their Indonesian opponents, Rexy Manaiky and Ricky Subagja, also through a rubber game ( 15-5, 13-15, 12-15).
These amazing achievements are undeniably one of the key reasons why badminton is regarded as a national sport in Malaysia today.
Fun fact: All the Sidek brothers, Misbun, Jalani, Razif, Rahman, and Rashid have represented Malaysia at many international badminton competitions including the Thomas Cup (which Malaysia also won in 1992), and All-England.
Misbun would eventually become the coach of the next Malaysian top badminton player, Lee Chong Wei.
In the meantime, discover more about the history of the Olympic games.
Blooming 2010s: The Rise of Millennium Top Athletes
After a long 12-year wait, we finally got our fourth Olympic medal in 2008, this time in Beijing.
Once again, all eyes were on the badminton court, especially on Lee Chong Wei, who has established himself as the nation's top badminton player. The badminton scoring system has since been adjusted to 21-point scoring, using rally scoring.
After beating Lee Hyun-Il from South Korea in three sets (21-18, 13-21 and 21-13) during the semi-finals, he finally faced his arch-rival, Lin Dan from China for the final.
It was Lee Chong Wei's second Olympic appearance and his first-ever Olympic final. He eventually took home his first-ever Olympic silver medal after Lin Dan won the match (21-12, 21-8).
During the London Olympics in 2012, Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan met again in the singles finals.
Fellow Malaysians probably had a hard time sitting through the third set of the game when both of them won a set respectively. Lee Chong Wei won the first game (21-15), while Lin Dan took the second game (10-21).
Most of us would remember the adrenaline sensation while watching the final game and tearing up at the end when Lin Dan sealed the final victory, winning the game at an extremely close score (21-19). It was so close, yet so far (sighs).
Nevertheless, this was Lee Chong Wei's second Olympic silver medal and Malaysia's fifth Olympic medal in badminton.
In the same Olympic games, Pandelela Rinong created history by becoming the first-ever Malaysian female athlete to win an Olympic medal and also the first in any sport besides badminton (diving).
Source: The Rakyat Post
Like her fellow senior athlete, Lee Chong Wei, she also won her first Olympic medal during her second Olympic appearance (having made her Olympic debut in Beijing at the age of 15).
Before participating in the 2012 London Olympics, Pandelela made her name as a SEA Games and Commonwealth Games gold medalist, performing so well consistently.
After going through the preliminary round, semi-final until the ultimate final for the top 12 divers, Pandelela eventually clinched the bronze medal for the 10m platform (individual diving) with a final record of 359.20 points, finishing third after Chen Ruolin from China (gold) and Brittany Broben from Australia (silver).
Find out which athletes will represent Malaysia at the upcoming 2024 in Paris.
Breakthrough 2016: The Massive Reach To Victory
The Rio Olympics 2016 was an amazing year for Malaysian athletes. Not only did we secure the most Olympic medals so far, but that year, we saw many new faces in other sports too (badminton, diving and individual keirin cycling )
When it comes to badminton, there were a total of three silver medals.
- The first silver medal: Men's singles
Once again, Lee Chong Wei managed to enter the final of the men's singles after beating Lin Dan during the semi-final game( It was a beautiful game!) Unfortunately, he lost to another fellow Chinese opponent, Chen Long (18-21, 18-21). This means that Lee Chong Wei became the first Malaysian to win three consecutive Olympic medals.
- The second silver medal: Men's doubles
This marked Malaysia's men's doubles return to the final game since 1996 (after 20 years).
Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong defiled the odds by beating many top-seeded pairs to reach the final. They encountered their opponent, Fu Hai Feng and Zhang Han from China, eventually losing the game in a long and nail-biting three sets: (21-16, 11-21, 21-23).
- The third silver medal: Mixed doubles
Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying set a new record for becoming the first Malaysian mixed doubles pair to reach the finals of the Olympics.
They clinched the silver medal after losing to their Indonesian opponent, Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir (14-21, 12-21) in the finals.
For diving, Pandelela Rinong managed to secure another silver medal with her fellow diving partner, Cheong Jun Hoong for the synchronised 10m platform event. They managed to secure the final point of 344.34, finishing behind Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia from China.
For the first time, Malaysia managed to secure its first-ever Olympic medal for cycling when Azizulhasni Awang won the bronze medal in the men's keirin event, finishing behind Jason Kenny from Great Britain and Matthijs Büchli from the Netherlands.
In total, Malaysia won 5 medals during the Rio 2016 Olympics (4 silvers, and 1 bronze).
Dive deep into the participation of Malaysians at the Olympics throughout the years.
Bumpy 2020/2021: The Race To The Top Continues
The Tokyo Olympics was supposed to take place in 2020, but then it was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a tough year for any mega public activities, more specifically for such a grand scale sports event like the Olympics.
Athletes across the globe had to train in isolation and wait patiently until any official announcement was finalised.
Finally, the Tokyo Olympics officially began on 23rd July 2021.
That year, Malaysia secured one silver medal (cycling) and one bronze medal (men's badminton doubles).
Nicknamed the Pocket Rocketman, Azizulhasni Awang was only +0.763 seconds behind defending Olympic champion, Jason Kenny from Great Britain who won the gold medal. This is Azizulhasni's second Olympic medal and fourth Olympic appearance.
Source: REUTERS/Matthew Childs (The Malay Mail)
When it comes to badminton, we saw the rise of an emerging talented double pair, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik during their first Olympic appearance.
They successfully won the bronze medal after defeating the power duo from Indonesia, Mohammad Ahsan and
Hendra Setiawan in a thrilling rubber game (17-21, 21-17, 21-14) during the bronze medal match.
Explore some of the most significant events that took place during the Olympics.
Beyond 2024: The Road To Gold — Everyone's Main Goal
Time flies and now we are counting down to the next Olympics in Paris!
As of this time of writing, 6 Malaysian athletes have secured their spots for Paris while several other sports are still in the qualifying process.
Under the Ministry of Sports and Youth, a new initiative — Road To Gold Committee was launched in 2023 to equip elite athletes with the best preparation to win the country's first-ever Olympic goal.
Currently, the athletes under the Road To Gold committee include:
- Bertrand Rhodict Lises (diving)
- Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik (men's doubles badminton )
- Pearly Tan and M.Thinaah (women's doubles badminton )
- Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei (mixed doubles badminton)
- Azizulhasni Awang (cycling)
- Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom (cycling)
Do you feel inspired after reading about the amazing achievements of our fellow athletes over the years? We know you will be rooting for them in front of the screens soon. Perhaps, you might want to pick up a sport as a hobby as you are waiting.
At Superprof, you can find an experienced tutor to teach any sports, ranging from badminton, swimming, cycling, or other team sports like basketball, volleyball or even hockey.
Just head to the Superprof Malaysia homepage to start browsing through the tutors' profiles and embark on an exciting and engaging sports journey. Learning a new sport has never been so easy and effective with Superprof!
Finally, let's cheer for our fellow Malaysian athletes as they give their very best performance for the glory of our nation.
Here's hoping we will be a step away from our very first-ever Olympic gold medal during the Paris 2024 Olympics soon!
Malaysia Boleh!
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