Olympic ambition a rocky road for Indonesian athlete<\/p>\n
By David Chung<\/p>\n
SABAE, Japan (Kyodo): In his native Indonesia, his Moslem
\ncountrymen bow down for prayer five times a day. But when
\nJonathan Sianturi takes to the floor at a gymnastics competition,
\nhe prays six times -- once for each apparatus.<\/p>\n
\"Right before every event I make a prayer to God,\" he says,
\npointing to his chest. \"Right here, always inside my heart.\"<\/p>\n
Introducing Jonathan Mangiring Parmingotan Sianturi, a
\nChristian from the largest Moslem state in the world. He is also
\nthe sole gymnast from this southeast Asian nation at the world
\nchampionships.<\/p>\n
\"I became a gymnast because I liked to demonstrate acrobatics
\nsince I was a little boy,\" says Sianturi. \"But gymnastics is
\nvery, very different. Here I bring my country's name with me.\"<\/p>\n
Indonesia is still a young sprout in the gymnastics world --
\nits gymnastics federation emerged in 1972, 69 years after the
\nfirst world championships were held in Antwerp, Belgium. The
\nsoutheast Asian archipelago has yet to win a medal at the world
\nlevel.<\/p>\n
Yet Jonathan is a star in his own right. He has won five
\napparatus gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games since 1987,
\nand was the all-around silver medalist in 1987 and 1989.<\/p>\n
His goals are also ambitious -- to be the all-around champion
\nfor the first time at the Games in December in Chiang Mai,
\nThailand.<\/p>\n
Jonathan 23, also dreams of making the Olympics, and the only
\nway to do that is to succeed at the world championships which
\ntake place in this western Japanese city through next Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Olympic glory<\/p>\n
The road to Olympic glory has been a rocky one.<\/p>\n
\"Training in our country is difficult because our situation is
\ndifferent from other countries,\" says Jonathan. \"Our people think
\nmore about education than sports.\"<\/p>\n
Back home, the economy is booming, workers are learning new
\ntechnologies and others are busy mastering languages as the
\ncountry rides a huge wave of tourism.<\/p>\n
When it comes to sports, says Sianturi, the attention paid to
\ngymnastics is little. Badminton and soccer are the favorites.<\/p>\n
\"Gymnastics is a very serious, difficult sport and you need
\nplenty of time to prepare,\" he adds. \"But it is hard to that in
\nIndonesia.\"<\/p>\n
Jonathan has a Russian coach to guide him specifically for
\ncompulsory exercises, but due to organizational problems he had
\nlimited amount of time to practice. \"Only four, five months,\" he
\nsays.<\/p>\n
The son of a cigarette distributor, Jonathan works out with
\nthe national team five days a week in the Indonesian capital of
\nJakarta. But he is also lucky to have trained with the very best.<\/p>\n
In 1991 he practiced in Rumania for two months, and two years
\nlater worked with gymnasts in China for six weeks.<\/p>\n
\"They were both good experiences,\" he said. \"I could work
\ntogether with a world-class team. In Southeast Asia, you do not
\nhave that. There are only several good individuals from various
\nnations.\"<\/p>\n
For that reason, Sianturi learns most of the routines for his
\noptional exercises not from fellow gymnasts or coaches, but from
\nwatching videos of the top stars.<\/p>\n
113th<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Jonathan and Indonesian delegation chief Sibarani
\nIndra entered the cavernous Sun Dome Fukui for the first day of
\noptional exercises.<\/p>\n
He placed 113th among competitors at the end of compulsories.
\nOnly the top 36 gymnasts would advance to the all-around final,
\nand just nine men from nations without teams are selected by
\nworld gymnastics body FIG to receive a ticket to Atlanta.<\/p>\n
On the horizontal bar, he breezed through his one-arm giant
\nand his Kovac, a back flip in midflight ending with a regrasp of
\nthe bar, was wonderful.<\/p>\n
He landed on the mat and bathed in the applause of a warm
\nJapanese crowd. His score was 9.350, his best on any apparatus
\nand a far cry from the 6.850-point showing on the high bar during
\ncompulsories.<\/p>\n
\"I feel I have succeeded if I have done here what I have been
\ndoing in training,\" says Jonathan. \"(On the high bar) I felt that
\nway.\"<\/p>\n
In the end, he finished with 103.775 points after compulsory
\nand optional exercises and placed 94th out of 209 gymnasts. The
\nchances of Olympic glory vanished.<\/p>\n
But he still smiled afterward, glad that he performed better
\nthan before. He could not recall his overall ranking at last
\nyear's championships in Brisbane.<\/p>\n
Jonathan will continue doing gymnastics, for perhaps the most
\nimportant reason of all.<\/p>\n
\"I do gymnastics because I like it,\" he says. \"It is like one
\nbig hobby.\"<\/p>",
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