Passion for excellence must be the driving force

LATELY, I have been getting the impression that sports in Malaysia is all about the number of gold medals won and the monetary incentives. Sure, these are important in this modern era in sports. However, I think this is not the way to go if we want Malaysian sports to be successful globally.

When the focus is so strong on winning medals and monetary incentives, we miss out on the most important ingredient for success – the passion for excellence. It is this passion for excellence in their respective sports that drives athletes and their coaches day in, day out to enjoy their training, to improve their skills, to learn new tactics and to compete aggressively.

It is this passion for excellence that will develop the attitude of supreme confidence and ignorant fearlessness, or to put it in Hokkien, “boh kiah see” and “mm chai see”, that will win gold medals in the Olympics.

Currently, we have two shining examples in Datuk Nicol David and Datuk Lee Chong Wei. In my opinion, it is their passion for excellence that is the driving force behind their dedication, motivation and spirit to compete for such a long time, and this is why they were able to maintain their position as world number one in their respective sports for as long as they did.

For them, the compliments from their peers are as meaningful as winning medals and gain- ing monetary incentives.

Basically, whenever I read comments from the sports authorities, I find a lack of emphasis on cultivating a culture that supports this passion in our athletes and our coaches. There appear to be no projects or programmes of this nature; what we have instead are gold medal targets and monetary incentives, especially when it comes to our first Olympic gold medal.

For me, this is like putting the horse before the cart; and if we keep doing this, it would be very hard for us to “arrive”.

TAN AIK HUANG Petaling Jaya