SEPANG – Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh apologises on behalf of the Malaysian contingent for failing to meet the nation’s expectations of securing a gold medal at the recently concluded Paris Olympics.
Despite sending 26 athletes to participate in 10 sports, Malaysia could only achieve two bronze medals, won by the men’s doubles team Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, and men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia.
This result placed Malaysia 80th in the medal tally standings, marking the country’s lowest finish ever in the history of the Olympic Games.
This also means that Malaysia failed to end its 68-year wait for a gold medal.
However, Hannah did not perceive it as a failure. Instead, she said that the “Road to Gold”, an initiative which was launched last year, has improved the performance of the athletes who were included in the programme.
“On behalf of the Malaysian contingent, I would like to apologise to all Malaysians as we were not successful in bringing home the country’s first gold medal from the Paris Games.
“I don’t want to use the term ‘failure’ because, as announced, the Road to Gold project is for two Olympic Games, namely Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028.
“The target is to secure gold medals in these two editions of the Olympics. Like I said, our stakeholders are athletes and coaches because RTG is a top-up service to help them enhance their chances of winning gold medals.
“However, what we have seen this time in Paris is an improvement from the Road to Gold athletes, with national records set by three athletes: Datuk Azizulhasni Awang and Nurul Izzah Izzati Asri (cycling) and also Aniq Kasdan (weightlifting).
“Every athlete who went to Paris fought hard for medals.
“We saw athletes such as Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Lee Zii Jia, Aniq, and Shah Firdaus fighting valiantly,” Hannah said upon arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport today.
Meanwhile, Hannah also explained that all RTG expenditures for the Paris Olympics will be audited and presented in Parliament.
In February, the RTG committee revealed that in 2023, it spent RM3,537,016.24 for the athletes included in the programme.
Under the national budget, the government had allocated RM5 million for the RTG programme last year and RM20 million for this year.
“The RTG Committee will meet and have a discussion based on the technical reports from each team at the Paris Olympics. We are preparing accounts, and it will be audited and presented in Parliament.
“We will address accounting issues; we have used the funds transparently, and all requests and additional services from stakeholders, namely coaches and athletes, have been fulfilled before their departure to Paris,” she added. – August 13, 2024