Jubilant Homecoming from the London Olympics

In any competition there has to be losers and winners. To those who won, congratulations for you have practiced hard and long. To those who missed out, you are also to be congratulated for you made it to the Olympics through hard work too. It’s just the best who will come out tops.

My country Malaysia also brought back two medals, one silver from badminton and one bronze from diving. I would like to congratulate the lovely young lady who did our country proud in bringing home the medal. She does not come from a privileged home, indeed far from it and her parents (father a labourer, mother a housewife ) sacrificed a great deal to support and encourage her passion for diving. The media highlighted how she used to dive into water tanks and the river when she was young. At the age of seven, her talent was spotted and she went for training with the national squad. This meant that she had to forgo much of family life. Today she is nineteen and she has excelled in her sport. Students from her former school turned up at the airport to welcome her back from London.

The rewards she garnered in her successes at world meets meant a better life for her siblings in their village and she remains a humble young lady. The latest incentives awarded to her will enable her to continue in her studies as well as training to prepare for the next Olympics in Rio de Janerio where she hopes to bring back another medal of a better hue.

She is indeed an excellent role model for our youngsters who I earnestly hope will endeavor to emulate the sterling qualities she has shown. Her successes have not gone to her head and she remains a very likeable lass of whom every Malaysian is proud. Here she is, greeted by her parents when she landed in the state capital. Her parents had been flown there, courtesy of the national airline, to meet her in a jubilant home coming.