The Sporting Nation of the Short and Weak-brained

It's the same old excuse about why Malaysian athletes are not exactly 'world class'. Our Deputy Youth and Sports Minister yesterday said it's because:

1. They are mentally ill-prepared.
2. They are smaller in stature than their counterparts from South Korea and Japan as well as Arab and European countries.

Funny, we never used to say we're smaller compared to South Korean and Japanese athletes, it used to just be that we were smaller than the Mat Sallehs. But now, you know... the other Asians are taking magic milk and have grown larger and therefore are better athletes than we are. Not our fault, it's the tragedy of nature. We're too short.

With all due respect, Nicol David is short. Currently world #1 and three times World Open champion in Women's Squash, and she's shorter than all her competitors. Yes, she's One in a Million, we're terribly proud of her and gave her a Datuk-ship. Where were you before she became such a rising star though? When she and her other struggling compatriots were trying to make a name for themselves in the local squash circuits? It was only after she had done it, through the sacrifices of her family and support given by the private sector, that the government came stumbling over their own feet to be associated with such a fine athlete.

And then there are sports where it's an advantage to be short - artistic gymnastics and diving for example. What, we're not short enough? Are we really failing in these too because our athletes are 'mentally ill-prepared'? Try these on for size:

An education system that does not support a career in sports.

Anyone who has dabbled in amateur sports in Malaysia will vouch for this. Come Form 5 year, you get two choices: Continue training and face an uncertain fate as a Malaysian athlete, or stop training to join the paper chase for a more stable future. With absolutely no guarantee of being provided with the support needed to succeed, or even of a sustainable income as a professional sportsman / sportswoman, guess what the overwhelming majority go for? You want to blame parents for being too conservative and forcing their children to abondon a sports dream for the conventional medical / law degree? How can you blame them, actually, when there isn't enough evidence to convince them to take that risk with their children's future.

Sports associations marred by politics.

Officials who don't know two hoots about the sport (i.e. swimming officials who would confidently put on goggles backwards... or on their balls), get paid for doing nothing with money that can be better used for training facilities or sports gear, and kick out masseurs and even coaches from competition trips because they want to bring their wife and / or kid to Dream Holiday Destination #453.

Bad, bad sports management.

When foreign coaches are terminated after two years because no one can be bothered to sort out the proper work documentation for them, the athletes suffer... and then blamed because they couldn't keep up their performance with the new coach who has introduced a new training technique. Then just as they adjust to it, over a year, it happens all over again. New coach, new technique. Sure, coaches leave on their own accord too. I would leave, if I was given a shabby flat to live in near the training centre (near enough to walk because I don't get transportation allowances), not allowed to bring my family with me and given ten measly days a year off during which I have to pay for my own airfare home.

Conditional support.

We had a world class gymnast once, sacrificed all her childhood, contributed tremendously to the country through a string of honours at international competitions, tolerated a mediocre education at the National Sports School, then pressured not to quit even though she was past her peak years. She made it to the Sydney Olympics, determined because the condition was to deliver at the Olympics for a scholarship to study Physiotherapy at a local university. Local, university. She injured her already weak knee in Sydney, performed in pain, didn't deliver what was expected, and promptly forgotten. She's since moved away to New Zealand and is coaching children there.

An ex-Malaysian athlete, coaching children in a not just developed country, but a super-sporting nation... because she wasn't good enough for us.