RI must prioritize socialization of athletics and swimming
RI must prioritize socialization of athletics and swimming
By Primastuti Handayani
JAKARTA (JP): The sports community has long known that track
and field is the mother of all sports. That is why the
International Olympics Committee (IOC) has ruled that track and
field is one of four sports which must be featured in multisports
events. The other three sports are swimming, gymnastics and
shooting.
With 46 golds at stake in track and field and 38 golds on
offer in the swimming pool at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games,
Indonesia has long been at a disadvantage because of its relative
weakness in these two sports. Thus the country has been forced to
rely on combat sports, including karate, pencak silat and tae
kwon do.
The Indonesian contingent finished in a disappointing third
position at the 1999 SEA Games in Brunei with 44 golds, 43
silvers and 58 bronzes. The results were in stark contrast to the
country's convincing victory at the 1997 Games before its home
crowd, when it captured 194 golds, or 44 percent of the total
number of gold medals on offer, 101 silvers and 115 bronzes.
A telling statistic, Indonesian SEA Games athletes this year
only managed five golds, 11 silvers and three bronzes in track
and field, and five golds, three silvers and 10 bronzes in the
pool.
The results were a bitter disappointment, with National Sports
Council (KONI) chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar earlier expressing
hope Indonesia would retain its overall Games title.
As it turned out, Thailand took the title with 65 golds, 48
silvers and 56 bronzes, while Malaysia took second place with 57
golds, 45 silvers and 42 bronzes.
Many people were shocked by Indonesia's poor form in the
Games, not only KONI officials but also officials from
neighboring countries' sports organizations. There were questions
as to whether Indonesia's economic woes had impacted sports
development in the country.
KONI was only able to provide Rp 12 billion (US$1.7 million)
to prepare and send its contingent of athletes to Brunei. The
money came from the National Development and Planning Board,
which gave Rp 5.5 billion, the Gelora Senayan Management Board
(Rp 4.5 billion) and donations from state enterprises (Rp 2
billion).
KONI's difficulties in raising funds for a centralized
training program indicated that the government and the public
were not focused on developing and supporting the country's
sports programs.
In other countries, governments provide for their athletes'
every financial need in multisports events. But in Indonesia,
KONI is forced to seek the aid of the government and the private
sector to cover expenses.
Track and field
Nobody can deny that a country which dominates track and field
has the best chance to dominate the overall medal tally in
multisports events. Thailand and Malaysia have realized this fact
and are working hard to raise the performance of their track and
field athletes.
KONI, however, failed to catch on to this trend. Wismoyo
mistakenly tried to realize his ambition to retain the overall
Games title, an ambition which proved to be preposterous, by
focusing on sports which could be dominated by national athletes.
With only five track and field golds in the last Games, the
country's athletes failed to match their performance in the
previous Games, when they took eight golds.
However, some young athletes showed promise in the Games,
including women's sprinter Irene Truitje Joseph, who took the
gold in her event by upsetting favorite Trecia Roberts of
Thailand, and Nunung Jayadi, who set the new men's pole vault
Games record by jumping 5.05 meters.
With KONI demanding track and field athletes show improvement,
the Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association's (PASI) newly
reelected chairman, Muhammad "Bob" Hasan, has a lot of work to
do.
Hasan, who has held the position of chairman since 1978, is
expected to improve the performance of his athletes by sending
young athletes such as Irene and Nunung to study and train in the
United States.
Hasan, a timber tycoon and an associate of former president
Soeharto, said after his reelection that raising funds for the
development of track and field in the country would be more
difficult than in the past, as many of his business associates
had turned down requests to financially assist PASI.
A source in PASI, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said
he had sought sponsorships to send a number of athletes to the
United States to study, but he could not get Hasan's approval for
the plan.
"I think he doesn't want anybody else to get credit for
sending potential athletes abroad. But it's really bad for the
athletes, as Irene has been requesting a scholarship to study in
the States for at least two years," the source said.
However, Hasan and his new officials deserve the time and the
chance to improve the development of sports in the country. One
way they may be able to do this is by staging competitions which
last for one or two days instead of the current four days. This
would follow a similar move by the European Grand Prix series.
"Nowadays, people are really busy and if we stage track and
field competitions for four days nobody will show up at the
stadium. I plan to stage regular competitions for only one or two
days with only 12 events instead of 46," Hasan said.
PASI and KONI also must work in conjunction with the Ministry
of National Education to introduce track and field in schools.
Most schools in Indonesia, particularly in larger cities, do not
have multifunction sports fields on which students can play and
practice.
State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Mahadi Sinambela
said he urged every district to set up a modest sports field,
which would be certified by the government so it could not be
sold to developers.
Mahadi said it was necessary to introduce sports to children
in housing complexes, particularly basic sports such as running
and jumping, which are part of track and field.
By spreading the love and enjoyment of sports to more children
in the country, PASI and KONI will have no difficulty recruiting
athletes in the future.
Swimming
The same situation also faces Indonesian athletes in the pool.
Indonesian swimmers, mostly veterans of the national program,
managed to win five golds at the SEA Games this year, compared to
the 11 golds they secured in 1997.
The presence of veteran swimmers such as Richard Sam Bera, 28,
at the SEA Games proved that younger swimmers have yet to surpass
their elders in Southeast Asia.
The Indonesian Swimming Federation's (PRSI) newly reelected
chairman, Rahardi Ramelan, faces the same challenges as Hasan in
raising funds.
"Swimming is an impossible sport to sell because athletes are
always under water, and even when they show up they are wearing
goggles. It's not easy to televise swimming events even if we use
underwater cameras.
"I prefer to encourage big companies to sponsor clubs in order
to develop national swimmers. I will also urge swimming
competition organizers to feature groups for nine and 10 year
olds in an effort to seek young talent.
"Besides the children, parents will definitely come to the
pool to cheer their children on and it will make the competitions
interesting," Rahardi said after his election.
He also said officials of PRSI's technical commissions must
concern themselves only with improving the performance of the
athletes, not raising funds to finance competitions.
PRSI realizes it lacks younger athletes to replace veteran
swimmers. Currently there is Steven Chandra, Akbar Nasution and
Hendrik Eko Putera on the boys' side and Siripiya Sutanto on the
girls' side, but they need more experience before they can be
expected to compete with the older swimmers.
Sending athletes abroad to study and train, particularly in
the United States and Australia, is now prohibitively expensive
for PRSI. Before the monetary crisis hit Indonesia in mid-1997,
PRSI was able to send 10 swimmers to study and train in the U.S.
and Australia. In the middle of 1998 Rahardi was forced to call
them home due to the fall of the rupiah against the US dollar.
With its limited financial capacity, PRSI must optimize its
coaches' technical skills in order to train athletes at home.
Mahadi put forward the idea that PRSI could work in
conjunction with the private sector in providing international-
standard swimming pools in housing complexes, open swimming
schools in provinces and stage more competitions throughout the
country.
He emphasized introducing the sport to as many children as
possible was important for Indonesia to be able to recruit young
talent in the future.
KONI's tasks
The poor showing of Indonesia in this year's SEA Games and the
inability to develop track and field athletes and swimmers pose a
great problem for KONI, and demand the sports council focus its
attention on developing these sports in the country.
National athletes must dominate track and field and swimming
if Indonesia wants to regain the overall title in the SEA Games
and improve its position in the Asian Games.
Lack of funds has long been pointed to as the main factor
behind Indonesia's failure in multisports events. KONI has found
it difficult to raise funds to train and send athletes to
multisports events since the 1996 Olympic Games.
However, KONI's main task is developing sports in the country
and allow national athletes to achieve greater success in
international arenas, not lobbying ministers and businesspeople
to financially assist KONI.
KONI has a media and promotions division and perhaps 2000 will
see this division raise funds from the public through various
programs of their own design.
One possible way to raise funds would be by producing and
broadcasting public ads on TV stations and in newspapers. The ads
could convey the message that Indonesia used to be great in
sports in the 1960s and 1970s, but national athletes no longer
enjoy the same level of success and need support from the private
sector and the public to reverse this downward trend.
However, this would require the public to trust the honesty of
KONI officials, most of whom are retired Army generals, in
handling donated funds. KONI has still not published its yearly
audited financial report, which should have been printed in
newspapers some months ago. Clearly, the organization must
improve its transparency before it can expect to see donations
from the public.
KONI also has to urge sports organizations' provincial
chapters to replace those chairmen linked to financial and
political scandals across the country, including Indonesian
Wrestling Association chairman Andi M. Ghalib, Indonesian Tennis
Association chairman Tanri Abeng, Indonesian Karateka Association
and Indonesian Contract Bridge Association chairman Gen. Wiranto
and PASI chairman Bob Hasan. It should also be mentioned that
KONI chairman Wismoyo in not untainted in this regard.
The allegations surrounding these men will cast a shadow over
national sports, and the public will lose whatever trust it has
in sports organizations and their commitment to developing sports
in the community.