While acknowledging that the results were average, Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has expressed regret to her fellow citizens for the country’s athletes’ inability to bring home a gold medal from the Olympic Games in Paris.
The minister admitted: “I apologize because we have yet to succeed. I am not using the word ‘fail’ because the Road to Gold (RTG) programme was set up not just for the Paris Games but the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as well.”
Road to Gold programme
Ms Yeoh’s ministry introduced the Road to Gold programme in March 2023 with the intention of providing the necessary backing for Malaysia’s top athletes to secure the nation’s first-ever Olympic gold medal. According to her, their ministry would keep helping Malaysian coaches and athletes.
She also mentioned that the Road to Gold programme committee would convene to review technical reports from all Olympic teams competing in Paris in order to evaluate their performance and to compile a report on programme expenses.
Meanwhile, Khairy Jamaluddin, the former Minister of Youth and Sports, has justified Malaysia’s athletes’ performance at the Olympics in Paris, claiming that it was comparable to their previous results from the 1996 Games in Atlanta and the 2012 Games in London. However, he stated that the two bronzes earned in Paris were insufficient to make up for the five medals the nation had won at Rio 2016.
He admitted: “I don’t see this as a failure, but we need to acknowledge that our results were average.”
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that new initiatives are being developed by the government to enhance Malaysia’s sporting performance in the aftermath of the Olympic Games in Paris, where its athletes won two bronze medals.
Malaysia is the most successful nation without an Olympic gold medal, having won 15 medals in silver and bronze over the years.
Source: CNA