Broken Olympic dream<\/p>\n
Considering the highly optimistic send-off given to the
\nnational Olympic team last month, there is every reason to be
\ndisappointed with the poor showing of our athletes in Atlanta.
\nIndonesia's best medal hopes were in badminton, but our players
\nonly managed a single gold, one silver and two bronzes. This is a
\ndismal result compared to Barcelona four years ago -- Indonesia's
\nbest ever Olympic showing -- when the country took two golds, two
\nsilvers and a bronze in badminton.<\/p>\n
Sports commentators have dubbed the Atlanta Olympics the
\ngraveyard of champions. Indonesia felt the brunt of this when
\nits gold medal winners in Barcelona, Alan Budikusuma and Susi
\nSusanti, were dethroned.<\/p>\n
It was an especially major letdown this year, when Indonesia
\nwas expected to win both the singles titles and have a strong
\nchance of more gold in the men's doubles and women's doubles. At
\nthe very least, our athletes should have returned with a handful
\nof silver and bronze medals.<\/p>\n
As it turned out, only Ricky Subagdja and Rexy Mainaky, in the
\nmen's doubles, won the gold. Mia Audina won the silver in the
\nwomen's singles, Susi Susanti returns with a bronze from the
\nwomen's singles, while Antonius and Denny Kantono took the men's
\ndoubles bronze.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian contingent of 41 athletes included a formidable
\nlineup of 20 badminton players, the envy of any team manager.
\nWith names like Susi Susanti and Mia Audina in the women's
\nsingles, Joko Suprianto, Alan Budikusuma and Hariyanto Arbi in
\nthe men's singles, and Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky in the
\nmen's doubles, it was the Indonesian "dream team". The confidence
\nwas further buoyed by the fresh Thomas Cup and Uber Cup victories
\nin Hong Kong last May, when our shuttlers proved that they could
\nbeat anyone anywhere.<\/p>\n
Our Olympic dream turned out to be an illusion. This week's
\nevents show that we were overconfident and that we grossly
\nunderestimated our opponents. In the badminton tournament, the
\nreal matches began in the third round. One by one our medal hopes
\nbegan to fade, mostly ousted by the same opponents whom they had
\nbeaten in Hong Kong just two months ago. The dream team unraveled
\nand by the time the finals were played, Indonesia only had Mia
\nAudina and Ricky and Rexy to count on.<\/p>\n
Ricky and Rexy deserve every praise for their fighting spirit
\nand for saving what was left of the nation's wounded pride. Mia
\nmust also be commended for putting up a brave fight against a
\nmore experienced opponent in the final. At 16 years old, Mia will
\nsurely represent Indonesia again, and her time will probably come
\nin Sydney in 2000 and in subsequent Olympics.<\/p>\n
While it is not our intention to look for scapegoats for the
\ndismal performance of Indonesia's badminton players, those
\nresponsible for the preparations must now answer some questions.
\nAtlanta showed that our badminton players were not thoroughly
\nprepared, physically or mentally, especially compared to their
\nopponents from China, South Korea, Denmark and Malaysia.<\/p>\n
We recall the time when our athletes returned home victorious
\nwith the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup in May. They were required to
\ntake part in motorcades in various cities, including Jakarta, to
\nshow their trophies to the people. And then there were the
\ncelebrations and receptions they had to attend. All this while,
\ntheir opponents were training hard for Atlanta.<\/p>\n
We sincerely hope that we have learned from our failure in
\nAtlanta. We should now set our sights on the future, not just on
\nthe Southeast Asian Games that will be held in Jakarta next year,
\nor the Asian Games in 1998, but also on the Sydney Olympics in
\n2000. This hope applies to badminton and to other sports as well.<\/p>\n
With better preparations, hopefully Indonesian athletes could
\nfurther our dream of becoming one of the world's major sporting
\nnations at the next Olympic games.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/broken-olympic-dream-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}