There will never be another Daphne
will never be another versatile, triple international athlete in Malaysian sports quite like Daphne Boudville.
Yesterday, a book was launched on the late athlete who died a month ago at the age of 77, and the who’s-who of Malaysia’s golden sports era attended the function that was held at the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) headquarters.
In her heyday, Daphne represented Malaysia in hockey, athletics and football.
Former National Sports Institute chief executive officer, Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz, who was among the invitees present, said: “Yes, there will never be another triple athlete, or even a double international in Malaysia, because times have changed as well as priorities over the years.”
According to Ramlan, lesser competition and distractions were the key to being versatile and excelling in more than one sporting discipline those days.
“Competition was limited, and when an athlete excelled in one sport, she or he were then also asked to play another and so they became double or in Boudville’s case, triple internationals.
“Nowadays, competition is very tough and even though we (NSI) encourage children to try to play different types of sports such as swimming, running and ball sports — they must focus on one sport that they are really good at when they mature in order to be become successful.
“Also, the growing emphasis on education, and the emergence of other forms of sports entertainment and virtual games have made it much more difficult for present day athletes to excel in more than one sport at international level,” said Ramlan.
Daphne was the only Malaysian woman to become a triple international, and it looks like the title will remain hers forever.