Olympic superpower

Olympics: China, Koreas are big winners in London

China may not have repeated their feats of Beijing 2008, but their presence in the top two was never in doubt. (AAP)

China proved they've arrived as a genuine Olympic super-power, and both Koreas impressed -- but Japan were top of the flops among Asian countries at the London Games.

China may not have repeated their feats of Beijing 2008, when they topped the medals table for the first time, but with 38 golds their presence in the top two, behind the United States, was never in doubt.
  
South Korea were the only other Asian team in the top 10. North Korea, finishing 20th, had their best Games in 20 years, Hong Kong celebrated cycling bronze and Singapore won their first individual medal in 52 years.
  
India couldn't follow Beijing by claiming their second individual gold, but they finished with two silver medals and four bronze -- their highest individual total.
  
Much as expected, China's divers and badminton and table tennis players missed just two gold medals between them, and their weightlifters hoisted five titles at London's ExCeL.
  
But China's shooters were off-target compared to Beijing, winning only two golds, and their gymnasts dropped from seven victories in 2008 to three on the London apparatus.
  
China's track hopes went up in smoke when 110m hurdler Liu Xiang, the 2004 champion, heart-breakingly limped out of the heats for the second Games running with a career-threatening Achilles tendon tear.
  
But his brave hop down the track to the finish line, symbolic kiss of the last hurdle, and embrace by his waiting competitors, was one of the Games' most memorable images.
  
Meanwhile Sun Yang and Ye Shiwen, 16, led China to their best performance in the pool, claiming two wins and a world record each as the team broke through with five titles in one of the Olympics' top-tier events.
  
Sun became China's first male Olympic swimming champion in the 400m freestyle, and then broke the 1500m world record for the second time in a year.
  
Ye set a new mark in the women's 400m medley and also won the 200m medley, while Jiao Liuyang won the women's 200m butterfly. Unproven doping speculation surrounding Ye was angrily dismissed by Sun.
  
"People think China has so many gold medals because of doping and other substances, but I can tell you it is because of hard work," said Sun.
  
"It is all down to training and hard work that we have results. Chinese are not weaker than those in other countries."
  
China, South Korea and Indonesia were also embroiled in one of the Games' worst scandals, when eight badminton players were disqualified for trying to lose group ties to secure easier quarter-finals.
  
South Korea's peerless archers, included the legally blind Im Dong-Hyun, hit the bull's-eye with three out of four gold medals, and their shooters added three more at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
  
They had two more in judo and two in fencing -- but none for Shin A-Lam, whose tearful, hour-long protest over her loss in the women's epee semis won sympathy and media coverage, but no Olympic medal.
  
North Korea's Games made an unpromising start when their women's footballers were pictured next to the South Korean flag on a stadium big screen, prompting a lengthy protest.
  
But tiny, 1.52m (five foot) weightlifter Om Yun-Chol put them on the gold trail when he lifted three times his bodyweight to win the 56kg category with a world record-equalling 293kg.
  
Kim Un-Guk and Rim Jong-Sim also lifted their way to gold at the ExCeL venue, while An Kum-Ae got judo gold on the opening weekend as North Korea matched their best ever haul of four titles at Barcelona 1992.
  
Japan, who are bidding to host the Games in 2020, had high hopes of emulating their record total of 16 gold medals. But after a near-wipeout in the judo, they ended with just seven.
  
South Korea rubbed salt into the wound when they beat Japan, their fiercest rivals, 2-0 for men's football bronze.
  
South Korea's Park Jong-Woo celebrated by waving a politically sensitive banner laying claim to an island group claimed by both countries. He was later barred from collecting his medal.
  
Sarah Lee Wai-Sze pedalled to Hong Kong's first cycling medal, bronze in the keirin, and China-born Feng Tianwei ended Singapore's half-century wait for an individual medal with bronze in the women's table tennis.
  
Malaysia got their first diving medal after Pandelela Rinong's bronze in the 10m platform, and there was a wave of sympathy for badminton star Lee Chong Wei, who fell just short of claiming the country's first gold.
  
Indonesia won two weightlifting medals, but nothing in badminton for the first time in 20 years, and Thailand had medals in boxing, taekwondo and weightlifting.

Source: AF

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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		China	35	21	19	75
2		United States	30	19	22	71
3		Great Britain	22	13	13	48
4		Korea	12	5	6	23
5		Russia	10	18	20	48
6		France	8	9	11	28
7		Germany	7	15	10	32
8		Italy	7	6	4	17
9		Hungary	6	2	3	11
10		Kazakhstan	6	-	1	7
11		Australia	5	12	9	26
12		Netherlands	5	3	6	14
13		Iran	4	3	1	8
14		DPR Korea	4	-	1	5
15		Cuba	3	3	1	7
16		New Zealand	3	2	5	10
17		Belarus	3	2	4	9
18		South Africa	3	1	-	4
19		Ukraine	3	-	6	9
20		Japan	2	13	14	29
21		Romania	2	5	2	9
22		Denmark	2	4	3	9
23		Brazil	2	1	6	9
24		Poland	2	1	5	8
25		Jamaica	2	1	1	4
26		Croatia	2	1	-	3
27		Ethiopia	2	-	2	4
28		Spain	1	5	1	7
29		Canada	1	4	8	13
30		Sweden	1	3	3	7
31		Czech Republic	1	3	1	5
32		Kenya	1	2	2	5
33		Slovenia	1	1	2	4
34		Georgia	1	1	1	3
34		Norway	1	1	1	3
36		Dominican Republic	1	1	-	2
36		Switzerland	1	1	-	2
38		Lithuania	1	-	1	2
39		Algeria	1	-	-	1
39		Grenada	1	-	-	1
39		Venezuela	1	-	-	1
42		Mexico	-	3	2	5
43		Colombia	-	3	1	4
44		Egypt	-	2	-	2
45		India	-	1	3	4
45		Slovakia	-	1	3	4
47		Armenia	-	1	2	3
47		Azerbaijan	-	1	2	3
47		Belgium	-	1	2	3
50		Estonia	-	1	1	2
50		Indonesia	-	1	1	2
50		Mongolia	-	1	1	2
50		Serbia	-	1	1	2
50		Tunisia	-	1	1	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