De-pressurizing a national hero so that he can finally win.

Last night, 28 million Malaysians witnessed a heartbreaking moment.  Yes, we were disappointed with the lost of our first gold medal from just 2 points away, but that wasn't the most heart-wrenching part.  Our hearts broke when our dear champion, Lee Chong Wei fought hard to hold back his tears on the silver podium.

He was just two points away.  And it was a really extremely eye-opening heart-gripping 3-match game between him and China's Lin Dan.

I've always thought that Lin Dan was a faster player.  His speed is almost unmortal-like.  Every time Chong Wei is fast, Lin Dan is faster.  Always seemed to be half a second faster and that half a second seems to make a hell lot of difference.

Or is it?

Personally, watching Chong Wei played so many games against his nemesis, I think they are just getting better and better, feeding on each other's skill and upping the challenge.  Well, Chong Wei is definitely getting better and better, closing his scores against Lin Dan in every match.  Though he always carries a cool, calm and collected posture, we could only imagine what it must have felt to have the hopes of an entire nation rested upon one shoulder.  His.  Every time.  All the time.

And therefore I thought, perhaps the secret to winning Lin Dan is not about his physical skill, which to me, Chong Wei is already pretty immaculate.  Perhaps the way to win the game is for him to have a strong second national player.  A competition.  A partner.  Someone to help him shoulder the nation's hope, someone who can half his burden, so that he can finally concentrate on winning the opponent on the other side of the net.  And not focusing on how he would be disappointing millions if he doesn't bring back the championship.  The single biggest proof of this is when he tweeted, 'I'm sorry' after the match.  And you know it's not a physical fight that he has succumbed to but a mental one.  I mean why on earth would a 2-point-to-Gold Olympian who arose from hundreds of other professional players to bag a silver at the Olympics apologise?  If it wasn't because he felt that he HAD to and that he had disappointed millions.  Lin Dan could hack it because he has Chen Long and if it wasn't Chen Long, there are a troop of others (athletes can be manufactured in China anyway).  But who can Chong Wei rely on?

The strategy of winning isn't just focusing on the match at the time of game.  Perhaps, it's really to look outside-the-box and search the core of the problem and fixing that first.  Offload his shoulders, Malaysian team!  Step up.  You have to really step up if you want Chong Wei to win.  Ironic isn't it?  In order for one person to win, you need a few more to rise up.

Anyway, this is just MHO.  And I guess to have Chong Wei as our national emblem, we are already winners. 

Chinese or what?

The Olympics ended spectacularly last night. I still remember the auspicious date of 080808, also the momentous night of the opening. Needless to say, I was impressed. It wasn’t just the Olympics, it was China’s way of showing the world, if this was what she can do for sports, imagine what she could potentially do for everything else. It was her way of getting back at those who undermined her since the less than popular Cultural Revolution days which happened almost half a century ago. With pyrotechnics of equivalent scale, launched simultaneously at the Tiananmen Square last night's closing ceremony, I’m pretty sure Chairman Mao would have rolled over to catch a glimpse too.

Closer to home, ever since the eventful night of lighting the torch of hope in that impressive nest, I’ve been hearing Malaysians commenting on all sorts. Mainly it was about them feeling proud of China and to be more precise, they were proud to be Chinese. Hang on, didn’t I just say Malaysians? Well, Malaysian Chinese to be more precise. I can’t help but wonder where then do our roots begin and where do they end? Honestly. I couldn’t help but feel some for form of emotions stirring in me too when I saw what China did with flying athletes and super visual projections. Yea, I was proud too. Just that I wasn’t sure if it was because I was Chinese or because after my accidental interest in studying about the Little Red Country while in university and no one can deny, they had come far. If my friends and I were proud of being Chinese, would that be considered as being disloyal to our native land? I don’t know. If we grew up without having to identify our ethnicity or to be more exact, without having to be identified through checking the relevant racial boxes every time we had to fill up a form, would we have proclaimed that we are proud to be Chinese? Well, here’s to you, Mr. Government, who can you blame when we were (and still are) being constantly reminded that we’re Chinese?

Well, no need to blow things out of proportion. What we felt was certainly some form of emotional pride (wherever that strange feeling came from). But beyond that, I think the most poignant moment came from seeing badminton silver medalist, Lee Chong Wei repeatedly kissed the Malaysian flag on his baju when he won against South Korean Lee Hyun-il in the Olympics semi-final. I think for any Malaysians regardless of racial segregation, that was what it meant to be Malaysian. It certainly brought some of us back to the glorified Thomas-Cup-Sidek-brothers-Foo-Kok-Keong days. I remember what it was like to stay up that night, gripping with the nation to see them rose as champions. I remember because the next day was a declared national holiday, so there was no school. The perk aside, I just hope we needn’t wait for every 20 years to witness something like that.

*Sparks salutes Lee Chong Wei regardless if he’ll be given datukship in Penang and hopes that he stays true to himself – a great sportsman – and that he will be willing to carry the responsibility of inspiring the young and creating significant change in our sports industry which was inevitably bestowed upon him with that Olympic silver medal.

**Photos from Telegraph UK and NST Malaysia.