Asia Still Unable to Turn People Power into Gold
SINGAPORE — Asia, home to more than three-fifths of the world’s six billion population, has yet to turn overwhelming people power into sporting gold.
The 2000 Sydney Olympic Games next month are unlikely to be any different.
Asia-Pacific countries will probably come away with only around a sixth of the 300 gold medals, with China, Australia and perhaps Korea (South Korea) again sharing most of the haul.
At the 1996 Atlanta Games, Asia-Pacific nations won 43 of the 271 golds with China bagging 16, Australia nine and South Korea seven.
The reasons, and excuses, for the comparatively poor showing of Asians are many.
The climate is cruel in many parts of Asia and few countries have adequate facilities for both training and competition.
Many governments lack the commitment to improve sports in their countries, and in some the reason is not so much disinterest but pure economics — they just do not have the funds.
Few events in Asia draw the stiff international competition that is needed if Asian athletes are to improve. There is not enough money from sponsorship, governments or sporting bodies to attract top world stars, and the weather is another deterrent.
Only a few Asian athletes have followed in the footsteps of the Kenyans and other world class Africans to train and be coached in the more developed sporting countries. A lack of sponsorship is one of the prime factors.
Culture, religion play part
Culture and religion also often play a part. Asians have strong family values and there is often a reluctance to spend months, let alone years, living and training far away from home.
Afghanistan for example has a dress code that bans men from wearing shorts and from cutting their beards. Last month religious police of the ruling Taleban arrested visiting Pakistani football players and shaved their heads because they were wearing shorts.
Women have to wear an all-enveloping ‘burqa’ veil while going out, and cannot dress in skintight revealing sportswear. Other Moslem countries also enforce strict dress codes.
Apart from Australia, New Zealand and their Pacific neighbours, following is how Asian nations shape up for Sydney:
Beijing
After sending one swimmer to the 1952 Helsinki Games, China boycotted the Olympic Games until the International Olympic Committee recognised Beijing’s sovereignty over Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) in 1979. Since then China have won 52 golds in five summer Games.
Chinese sports chiefs set a target of 16 golds in Sydney this year — the same as in Atlanta — but warned this could be hard to reach. The once-powerful swimming team aim for a modest goal of just one gold. In track and field, maverick coach Ma Junren’s team of middle and long distance runners could surprise, but officials only look for success in the women’s 20-kilometre walk.
The men’s gymnastics team and the women weightlifters are expected to win multiple gold. The women’s soccer team — China’s ‘Roses’ — is determined to avenge its narrow defeat by the United States in the World Cup, but face other difficult teams.
Chinese Taipei
Chinese Taipei have yet to win a gold in 12 Olympic appearances since Los Angeles 1932, but hope to change that this year. Some officials predict this year’s 55 Olympic athletes could win as many as four golds in the 12 events they will contest in Sydney.
The brightest hopes are in taekwondo, women’s weightlifting and women’s table tennis.
Windsurfing champion
Hong Kong
The former British colony, now a special administrative region of mainland China, won their only gold and only medal in Atlanta from windsurfer Lee Lai-shan. She is confident of another medal in Sydney.
Seoul
South Korea are among the top 10 powers at the Olympic Games since first participating in 1936 under the flag of Japan, which occupied the Korean peninsula until 1945.
Their best-ever finish was fourth overall at Seoul 1988 with 33 medals, including 12 golds. This year, when the Korean national sport of taekwondo debuts, they hope their 280 athletes in Sydney will win at least 10 golds.
Kim Un-yong, Korea’s Olympic Committee president and an executive board member of the IOC, said the national team would be going for gold in taekwondo, archery, gymnastics, wrestling, shooting, judo, table tennis, weightlifting and women’s handball.
North Korea, with eight golds from five previous Games, have a good shot at medals in weightlifting, shooting and gymnastics, said Korean Olympic Committee officials.
Tokyo
Japan first competed at Stockholm 1912 and since then have won 93 gold, 89 silver and 99 bronze. Their strongest performance came at Tokyo 1964 with 16 golds but their success level has dropped off since Los Angeles 1984.
Best chances in Sydney are in the men’s and women’s marathons, men’s hammer throw, judo and women’s swimming.
Jakarta
Since Rome 1960, Indonesia have picked up three golds, four silver and three bronze, with all but one silver coming from badminton, the country’s most popular sport.
Indonesia’s first gold medals in the inaugural badminton competition at Barcelona 1992 were in the men and women singles from Susi Susanti and Alan Budikusuma, both ethnic Chinese who have since married and have a child.
In Sydney, Indonesia will again pin hopes on badminton, with young shuttler Taufik Hidayat and world number two Hendrawan strong contenders in the men’s singles.
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia have been in every Olympic Games since Melbourne 1956 except for Moscow 1980 but have collected only one silver and two bronzes — all for badminton.
Officials said badminton was Malaysia’s main medal hopes in Sydney, although a weak performance in the Thomas Cup in May has raised doubts.
No longer dominant in hockey
New Delhi
India once dominated men’s hockey with eight golds, the last in Moscow, but the advent of synthetic turf and a change in rules broke their stranglehold.
‘Tennis and [women’s] weightlifting seem to be medal winning prospects for India,’ PK Mahanand, a former Indian national weightlifting selector said.
Leander Paes, who won a bronze in Atlanta, and Mahesh Bhupathi are expected to team up again in Sydney and would have a strong chance as winners of the 1999 Wimbledon and French titles.
Islamabad
As always, Pakistan’s best and usually only medal hope is men’s hockey, in which they have won eight medals, including three golds, in 11 Summer Games.
They have had a tougher time in the last three Olympic appearances, although team manager Islahuddin Siddiqui hopes for a return to the podium in Sydney.
Kabul
Ravaged by civil strife, Pakistan’s northern neighbour Afghanistan will not be sending any athletes. The attitude of the ruling Taleban to sports was underscored by the incident in which visiting Pakistani football players had their heads shaved because they were wearing shorts.
An Afghan marathoner competed in Atlanta, and though he had a respectable personal best of two hours 33 minutes, he injured himself in training and limped through the whole race. He finished in four hours 24 minutes, more than two hours 10 minutes adrift of the winner.
First woman competitors
Dhaka
Bangladesh’s first Games was Los Angeles 1984 but none of their athletes has gotten past the heats. Sydney will mark the first time Bangladeshi women have competed but no medals are expected. The team’s participation is financed by the the International Olympic Committee’s ‘solidarity fund’.
Colombo
Sri Lanka got their only medal — silver in the 440 yards hurdles — at their first Olympic Games in London 1948. There are no firm medal prospects this time but Sri Lanka expect star woman runner Susanthika Jayasinghe and the 4 x 400m relay team to do well. Jayasinghe took the women’s 100m silver in the Rome World Championships in 1997.
Bangkok
Thailand’s only successes have been from its boxers — one gold, one silver, four bronzes — since its first Olympic Games in Helsinki. Again this year, boxing carries their hopes.
The sole Thai gold medallist, featherweight Somluck Kamsing, will be trying to repeat his Atlanta victory in Sydney.
Phnom Penh
Cambodia first went to the 1956 Games and are still looking for a medal. There will be four Cambodians in Sydney — including a brother and sister in swimming — but there are no medal aspirations, just the thrill of competition.
Yangon
The first Burmese to compete in an Olympic Games was as a member of the British Empire’s India team in Berlin 1936 — the Games remembered for the feats of black US sprinter Jesse Owens in front of Adolf Hitler. There will be seven Myanmar athletes at Sydney without real hope for a first medal.
Manila
The Philippines, whose first Olympian was a 400m runner in the Paris 1924 Games featured in the film Chariots of Fire, have won two silvers and seven bronzes in 16 Games. Medal prospects in Sydney are in taekwondo and boxing.
Singapore
The tiny city-state, with only one Olympic medal in 40 years of competing, will send a team of 14 to Sydney but do not expected to challenge for any medals.
Hanoi
Communist Vietnam have no medals to show for the Games they have participated in — Moscow, Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta. A Vietnamese official said they hope for a first Olympic medal in women’s taekwondo
Reuters Brian Bain
Source: SOCOG