Malaysian Sport's Big Fat Greek Tragedy!

I watched Athens 2004. I was watching other countries battling it out for Gold, Silver and Bronze. First up was Thailand with a Gold, then Indonesia, then Thailand again. Then it was some medals of other colours for Thailand and Indonesia.

Our ""Fallen"" COUGHheroesCOUGH one by one fell like dominoes in Badminton. Then came the 200M sprint. You did wonder if Nazmizan US training stint was going to make him a world beater. YEAH RIGHT. I saw that Heat he was in. He came in LAST. No where near the national record at all.

Then came the Diving. Ok, this one I have nothing much to complain, since Leong Mun Yee and Gracie Junita Terry Pego was up against Two Times World Champion Guo JingJing of China and up and coming star Wu MinXia of China and Pakhalina Yulia of Russia.

Then it was time to Taekwondo. And Elaine Teo too fall by "Losing via Superiority" to Guatemala's Carias Euda. It was a match that I was disappointed with Elaine. I agree with all the three judges and the referee of that match to award the win to Carias, because she was indeed the better fighter.

Then Josiah Ng came so close, yet so far in the Keirin competition. Probably not enough experiences on his part, but he was way better than the Badminton team.

The only True Malaysian Hero that I see in Athens is Byran Nickson Lomas. He was up against World Champion Alexandre Despatie of Canada and Defending Champion Tian Liang of China. That didn't bother him one bit as he powered himself to a respectable 19th position in the 10M Platform diving event.

However, the truth and fact remains. Malaysia simply is not Olympic Quality. Look at Iraq. Iraq is a country torn apart, and yet it's football team powered over Portugal. They went on to the Bronze medal match, losing to eventual winners Italy. Can you imagine Malaysian football team go that far? Yeah right. Try QUALIFYING for the Olympic first.

Some other minor countries that are worst off than Malaysia can win medals, why can't we win at least one? We have "World Class" stadiums and "World Class" Coach, but we can't win a damn thing???

The first reason I could think of is the Malaysian Educational System. It is too exam and result orientated. Let me tell you what happened to my friends during my schooling years. A few of my friends were active at sports. They even went on to represent the state. They were good sportmens and sportwomens, but then it was exam time, and everything went to hell. Then they got into university, sports is no longer on their list. All they care was getting that degree. After getting that degree, they are worried about getting a good job. Now the only sport they do is : English Premier League on TV and at the local Mamak eating place. So, that's how our Educational System was systematically killing sports at school level. And yet, no one wants to admit the Malaysian Educational System is FLAWED. No one. Most people that supported the system was saying that it is a successfull system. I agree. But at what price? Tell me! During my era, english was not so important. So, some of my friends just didn't care to improve on their english. Now, one of my friends who is a mechanical engineer is struggling in his job when it comes to english. He even asked me a few times to correct his english, but in the end, the correction were not corrected. He didn't understand what I have corrected. Suffice to say, his english SUCKS. Now, everyone is trying to learn english. They FINALLY notice that english is an important language. However, in my opinion. It is a little too late. Just like sports. Only now some people are waking up and seeing the truth. Too LATE PEOPLE. You all SHOULD HAVE WOKE UP 10 YEARS AGO.

Now the million dollar question would be : Can Malaysian Sport be save?
The answer is ...................