KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s percentage of gold medals won in the last five SEA Games has seen a marked improvement, averaging 10 to 15 per cent of the medals at stake, compared with just 8 per cent before 2000.
FIVE-GOLD OUTING: Malaysian karate exponents with their gold medals at Chao Anouvong Gymnasium in Vientiane during the 25th Laos SEA Games, in this Dec 12, 2009 file photo. — Bernama photo
FIVE-GOLD OUTING: Malaysian karate exponents with their gold medals at Chao Anouvong Gymnasium in Vientiane during the 25th Laos SEA Games, in this Dec 12, 2009 file photo. — Bernama photo
A report released by Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) said Malaysia’s best haul was in the 2001 SEA Games, when Malaysia were the hosts and the percentage of gold medals won was 28.3 per cent or 111 of the 392 gold medals offered. In the 2003 Vietnam SEA Games, Malaysia collected 9.7 per cent of the gold medals or 43 of the 444 offered but that increased to 13.7 per cent at the 2005 Manila SEA Games with 61 golds from 444 offered.
The Malaysian contingent, further improved on the achievement during the 2007 Korat SEA Games with 14.2 per cent or 68 of the 477 offered by host Thailand. The recent SEA Games hosted by Laos last December, saw Malaysia achieve 10.8 per cent or 40 gold medals from the 372 total offered. According to OCM honorary secretary Datuk Sieh Kok Chi, Malaysia’s performance in the SEA Games had improved over the last decade.
Since the SEAP Games was expanded to be the SEA Games, Malaysia’s percentage of gold medals won has risen from an average of below 10 per cent from 1977 to 1997 (7.11 per cent in 1981 and 7.66 per cent in 1983), to an average of above 10 per cent since then.
This was the legacy from hosting the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, he said.
“Many intensive programmes were implemented in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games and that had helped improve the performances of athletes in the SEA Games,” he told Bernama here yesterday.
Sieh added that the impact of the Commonwealth Games programmes was evident during the 2001 SEA Games hosted by Malaysia, since 111 gold medals were won, en route to clinching the overall champions title. However, Sieh warned that Malaysia must be careful with the emergence of Singapore and Vietnam.
Singapore, who started their surge since 2000 by collecting 22 (5.6 per cent) of the 392 gold medals in Kuala Lumpur (2001), improved on that figure significantly in Laos by accumulating 33 gold medals (8.9 per cent) from the 372 at stake, he said.
Vietnam have shown great progress since hosting the 2003 SEA Games, when they finished in first position and since then Vietnam have finished in second place once (2009) and in third place twice (2005 and 2007). Indonesia, the powerhouses of the SEA Games in the 1980s and 1990s, have suffered a decline in the last five SEA Games, but as the hosts of the 26th SEA Games in 2011, Indonesia were expected to bounce back, he said.
In terms of percentage of gold medals won, Thailand have been consistently scoring over 20 per cent for the last five SEA Games, with the highest at 38.1 per cent at the 2007 SEA Games, when Thailand were the hosts. — Bernama
