TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A gold medal from badminton at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics is a refreshing oasis amidst the lackluster performance of Indonesian athletes at the Olympics.
The gold medal was won by Indonesia’s badminton mixed double pair Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir.
The pair has also restored the gold tradition of badminton at the Olympics after the country failed to clinch a single medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
Their success is praiseworthy considering that it is not easy to win a gold medal in tournament as prestigious as the Olympics.
In the last one year, they had to go through difficult times to collect point by point in every tournament.
For the record, only 16 pairs who can be qualified to play in the Olympics.
However, in this euphoria of their victory, we should be worried because the success cannot ben seen as the revival of the glory of our badminton.
Both are now 29 and 30 years of age respectively, both of which are not golden age for athletes.
It is difficult to pin hopes on them again and create the same achievement in the next Olympics in Tokyo, four years later.
At the same time, only few of our young athletes have shown good achievement, be in in individual tournaments and team competitions like Thomas and Uber Cup tournaments.
In a number of tournaments, our athletes often cannot compete with players from China or Denmark.
Even in the women’s department, we are already left behind from countries considered badminton minnows in the past such as Thailand or India.
This is a serious task for the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) to boost the achievement of our young shuttlers.
PBSI should give more opportunities for the young guns to compete in more tournaments so that will be ready to assume the mantle and keep the badminton gold tradition at the Olympics.
However, PBSI is not only hope to keep the tradition alive.
The government, through the Sport and Youth Ministry and the National Sport Council (KONI) should also pay more attention to disciplines that have potentials to bring home medals, such as weightlifting or archery.
So far, the two disciplines have not been given enough attention. They often have to train with inadequate infrastructures and facilities.
Since 2000, Indonesia has banked on only two disciplines to win medals at the Olympics: badminton and weightlifting.
From weightlifting, Indonesia has managed to win one silver and one bronze at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, while in archery, the first discipline that brings a medal for Indonesia at the Olympics, our athletes have not been able to repeat the success just like what the country did at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when Indonesian walked away with one silver.
To keep the gold medal tradition alive, the time has come for the government to prioritize disciplines that have the potentials to win medals, be in the funding and the training and development.
In every multi event tournament, it is better to prioritize certain disciplines that can bring maximum results instead of preparing many disciplines with minimum results.
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