Indonesia's Busan Asiad contingent a failure: Warouw
Indonesia's Busan Asiad contingent a failure: Warouw
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Busan, South Korea
The Busan 2002 Asian Games ended on Monday, with the Indonesian
contingent failing to fulfill its target of bringing home at
least six gold medals, only able to deliver a meager four after
16 days of competition.
Indonesian chef-de-mission Rudolf S. Warouw admitted that the
Indonesian contingent had failed to achieve its target.
"We have failed to improve our performance in comparison with
the 1998 Bangkok Asiad. But I will take full responsibility," he
told Indonesian reporters at a media conference at the Main Press
Center (MPC) in the Busan Expo and Convention Center (BEXCO).
"But please don't blame the athletes. They did their best to
win whatever medals they could. That's enough for me."
Warouw said all athletes sent by the National Sports Council
(KONI) to the quadrennial sporting event should have been able to
win a medal or two.
"Each athlete had been through the training center and his or
her achievement was closely examined by their own sports
organizations to determine their medal potential.
"But it seems that we overlooked our opponents or exaggerated
our own athletes' achievements," said Warouw, citing as an
example senior cyclist Tonton Sutanto, who was beaten by cyclists
from the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union.
Tonton finished only fourth in the men's individual time trial
on Sept. 30 in Busan's northern Gijang county, losing to cyclists
from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyztan and Uzbekistan.
"We didn't expect that the Central Asian cyclists would be
such tough opponents because we had never heard of them before.
"Therefore we must improve our sports intelligence," said
Warouw, who is also KONI secretary-general.
But on the other hand, he said, the sports organizations
seemed also to have overestimated their athletes' achievement.
"If we had really based athlete selection on their realistic
chances of winning a medal, our contingent might have been
reduced by as much as a half," he said.
"Many countries asked me why we sent so few athletes, despite
the size of the contingent."
Indonesia sent 98 athletes to the Asiad, while other Southeast
Asian countries sent up to 200 each.
Malaysia had 212 athletes winning six gold medals, to end up
at 12th position, while Thailand's 267 athletes managed to grab
14 gold medals, earning them a respectable sixth place.
Singapore sent only 96 athletes, but won five gold medals and
achieved 13th position.
Warouw also deplored the fact that Indonesia had failed to
participate in track and field, swimming and shooting events,
each of which offered more than 40 gold medals.
Upon the contingent's arrival home, there will be a ceremony
on Thursday at KONI headquarters at the Bung Karno Sports
Complex, to officially dissolve the Asian Games contingent.
KONI will also symbolically present a cash bonus to medal
winners.
Gold medalists will each receive Rp 250 million (US$27,700),
silver medalists Rp 150 million and bronze medalists Rp 50
million.