What a Malaysian Champion taught me

Photo from here

The Olympic season has come (and is about to go).

Many countries are in a frenzy as they watch their national team fighting for gold and Malaysians were no different; the height of which was the match of our very own Lee Chong Wei against Lin Dan.

Its been a long time since I last remembered a scene like this (The last time being the Thomas Cup in 1992. When Malaysia DID win it and boy was it an epic win.); Malaysians hurrying home from whatever they were doing because we had a final to catch. Well now, not just a final. THE Final. The one chance we get to see gold next to the name Malaysia. The one chance we get to hear the national anthem of "Negaraku" being played in the Olympic grounds. THE Final that carries the hope of a whole nation to see history in the making.

**Anyway, in case you haven't heard of this big event in the badminton world, Lee Chong Wei didn't win the gold.**

Upon the result of the match, twitter was flooded with tweets telling LCW thank you.

For anyone who isn't a Malaysian; the first reaction to all these tweets might be "Thank you?! Why do you need to thank him when he lost? And at such magnitude (#ThankYouLeeChongWei trended WORLDWIDE at no.3)?!"

But it wasn't just the twitter world that went insane. Facebook too! Posts after posts kept flooding my news feed and Malaysians young and old, jumped on the wagon to rally behind our national hero to cheer him up (yes, me too). People were citing over and over again how they've never felt so united with other Malaysians and referencing it to the country's milestones like our Independence Day.

What happened? What sparked such furor amongst us Malaysians?

It was this moment:- when Lee Chong Wei's words pricked all of our hearts. Just two words:

"I'm sorry. "

To see such words coming out from a world-class player (No.1 for 190+ weeks) upon losing put us Malaysians on the spot. Many realise that despite the pride to get gold for the country was important, there were many other things that were of more value which we as a nation had forgotten. All the small talks of wanting free ice-cream (from Baskin Robbins) and a public holiday (which was never even promised in the first place) became trivial. Our focus as a nation moved on to things that did matter:- Unity, Hope, Gratitude, Humility; shown all over the virtual world and in newspapers stirred every Malaysian's love of the country and sports. How appropriate that all of this happened in the month leading up to our country's Independence and National Day. :)

My favourite quote from all these frenzy came from a tweet that said:

"Skills win you medals, attitude wins you hearts," - ESPN commentator.

So true.

But moving on, the question that I thought about was:

"What would happen if Lee Chong Wei DID win?"

Would we be in the same spot as we are today? Would we have appreciated Lee Chong Wei the way we do now? Would we realise that as a nation, without any bribery or political agenda at all, we were united? Would we be as inspired to work harder as a nation to one day reach that elusive Olympic Gold medal? (I have seen some young students talking about striving their best for the nation, because that's what they learn from LCW. And they want to continue living this legacy).

OR

Would we be ignorant and celebrate in the moment; happy to receive free ice-cream and (maybe) get one day of holiday. Yes, we would have cheered, celebrated and talked the whole day about it too. But would it have rallied us together as a nation the way we were when he lost? How would have we reacted?

But...

The fact IS; LCW didn't win.

And I have a funny feeling that as a nation, we are much more gracious in losing (in comparison to China) and that quality in itself is rare. If Lin Dan had lost, China would have probably given him a huge beating. Why did I say that it is rare for a nation to be a gracious loser? For one, Chong Wei lost and the whole nation was united. We stood by him and said "Lin Dan may have won a medal, but Chong Wei, you won a nation.".

What I'm saying here is not that I agree we should lose. On the contrary. I believe in excellence and giving our best. I believe in never compromising our standards to achieve the highest. However, what we showed here as a nation is nothing to be looked down upon either. That despite the loss, we as a nation stood proud of our countryman's achievement; and that speaks VOLUMES to the whole world. We showed them as a nation what true sportsmanship is. To receive defeat gracefully and walk out with our heads held high.

Through LCW and our reaction to his loss; we showed the world that as a nation indeed, "attitude wins hearts"

I'll end on this quote taken from an article :

"Hope is a virtue independently of its realisations; it is an intrinsic value, an end in itself, allied to courage and imagination, a positive attitude full of possibility and aspiration. For that reason, you discover more about a person when you learn about his hopes than when you count his achievements, for the best of what we are lies in what we hope to be." - Professor A.C. Grayling-

Ciao.

p.s.: Here's to the future of our country's sports achievement. There will be more chances for that Gold. :)

**UPDATE**

And just when we thought we've lost hope. News comes in that Pandelela Rinong obtained a bronze for diving! :)

Fun fact:

- 1st female medallist for Malaysia.

- 1st medal outside of badminton

- Is a SARAWAKIAN!! :) (hohoho... proud moment..)