Why our divers failed at the Tokyo Olympics?

theVibes.com:

Failure of divers to deliver medals cause for concern

Only bright spark, to an extent, in Tokyo was Nur Dhabitah

Nur Dhabitah finished fourth in the women’s 3m springboard individual final. - Bernama pic. August 7, 2021

TOKYO - The national women's diving squad arrived here with high hopes of delivering a medal or two. Instead, they head home from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics empty-handed.

Having delivered good news in the previous two editions of the Olympics, their failure this time is definitely a cause for concern, more so since the squad this time featured the likes of Pandelela Rinong, Cheong Jun Hoong, Nur Dhabitah Sabri, Leong Mun Yee and Ng Yan Yee.

Pandelela, who came here with the biggest reputation, having won two Olympic medals as well as the gold medal at the 2021 FINA Diving World Cup in May, failed to shine in both the events she competed in at the Tokyo Olympics.

In the women’s 10-metre platform individual final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on Thursday, Pandelela paid the price for a poorly executed first dive to finish last among 12 divers.

Pandelela suffered the same fate when she and Leong Mun Yee finished eighth - and last - in the women’s 10m platform synchronised final on July 27.

Jun Hoong, the 2017 world champion who was a last-minute inclusion for the Tokyo Olympics, also failed to produce a surprise after finishing 26th out of 30 divers in the preliminary round of the women’s 10m platform individual.

Yan Yee too performed well below-par after finishing 20th to miss out on the women’s 3m springboard individual final.

However, kudos to Nur Dhabitah for her fourth placing in the women’s 3m springboard individual final.

The 22-year-old performed consistently in every one of her five dives but it just wasn’t enough for a podium finish.

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican felt that the diving squad did well in the 3m springboard event but not in the 10m platform individual and synchronised events.

“Diving had the prospect to contribute a medal, unfortunately, we did not achieve our target.

“Although we had good results (in diving), such as the one achieved by Dhabitah, we failed to meet the set targets in the 10m platform individual and synchronised events,” he said in a video clip shared with the media by the Youth and Sports Ministry.

kt remarks: as a reminder Cheong Jun Hoong was World champion in the 10 metre platform at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships

He said he also had the opportunity to have a chat with Pandelela and Jun Hoong, adding that both the divers were disappointed with their performances and apologised for not meeting the stipulated targets.

“But, as the Youth and Sports Minister, I witnessed first-hand their determination in doing the best they could,” he said.

Pandelela became the country’s first diver to win an Olympic medal when she bagged the 10m platform individual bronze at the 2012 London Games.

And four years later, at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Kuching-born Pandelela partnered Jun Hoong to clinch the women’s 10m platform synchronised silver medal. - Bernama. August 7, 2021

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kt notes:

Why or when did the diving standards of Malaysia went down the hill drain?

Excuse me if I am mistaken but I dare say it was when KJ sacked Yang Zuilang as national diving head coach in late 2017.

Yang Zuilang

KJ was influenced-persuaded by the then-lil' Napoleon bureaucrats at the National Sports Institute (NSI or ISN in Bahasa) in not extending the contract of  Yang Zhuliang because ... now get this ... "Yang was 'old school' and refused to use new sports science etc etc etc", which as usual was a lot of horse manure, of sea-horses that was, wakakaka.

Yang riposted he obtained World-class diving results for Malaysia so fuck your new sports science (well, he didn't say f* your whatever - 'tis just kaytee's blogger's licence, wakakaka). Of course by then, those lil' Napoleons trotted out Daddy Minister, and hid behind his sarong.

KJ then told us that while Yang Zuilang himself was NOT involved, he had allowed a culture of fear to developed as he failed to protect athletes from an environment of rape, sexual harassment, violence, bullying and threats.



Coach Yang Zuilang

While no one should ever condone rape, sexual harassment, violence, bullying and threats, not just in the sports diving community, we need to examine what those allegations really mean, apart of course from the clear-cut crimes of rape and sexual harassment.

Why? Because we could NO LONGER trust those bureaucrats for their words, words so bullshit-ish that it had necessitated the Sports Minister to come out and defend or clarify what the hell had been going on with their equally bullshit-sh 'old school' versus 'new sports science'.

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28 Dec 2017

Bullshit galore from heart of diving

From Sin Chew Daily via MM Online:

Malaysian sports has been plagued by a fair deal of incidents of late, and this has negatively impacted the healthy development of sports in the country.



The dismissal of national diving coach Yang Zhuliang once again reminds all relevant parties of the need of handling and tackling issues more professionally in a bid to ensure the steady development of sports in the country.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin claimed that it was he who had instructed the ISN not to renew Yang’s contract because the latter had allowed a “culture and environment of fear” that had led to “rape, sexual harassment, violence, physical abuse, bullying and threats.”

The reason given by Khairy was obviously different from what ISN had claimed, that Yang’s coaching was out of date and unscientific.



Yang was very unhappy with ISN’s reasons, and cited examples to prove that his training was appropriate, otherwise he would not have produced world diving champions.

National diving athletes, including Cheong Jun Hoong, have been very supportive of the coach, arguing that ISN’s reasons were unfounded.



Many Malaysians don't realise that Cheong Jun Hoong was World champion in the 10 metre platform at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships

We cannot deny that Yang has contributed significantly to the diving sport of this country. Under his leadership and coaching, we have made tremendous progress in our diving facilities and standards.

While we can understand the differences in the opinions of ISN and Yang on the training of athletes, it is nevertheless unbecoming for ISN to negate the contributions of Yang with such lame excuses.

Khairy’s reasons, meanwhile, came as another major shocker as if Yang was a partner in crime in a recent rape case in which an assistant coach was charged in the court for allegedly raping a diver.

With the case yet to be closed and the suspect yet to be convicted, it is totally unfair to associate Yang’s contract with this whole matter. Yang has not only lost his job, but also has his reputation tarnished.















all above Yang's training products

Khairy was of the opinion that while Yang was not directly involved in the crime, he failed to stop the incident from taking place, allowing a culture and environment of fear to spread in the national diving squad.

As such, he felt that Yang must be held responsible for the lapse.

No doubt the athlete’s physical and mental state is more important than medals and national glory. If the national diving team is overwhelmed by the culture of fear and athletes have to spend their days in fear, their performance will definitely be compromised.

But, did Yang deliberately opt to ignore the existence of such a culture? Or did ASUM, ISN, MSN and even the youth & sports ministry ever try to solve this problem with Yang? Was Yang given a chance to explain in the first place?

There has been a lack of professionalism on the part of Yang and the relevant authorities in the handling of this matter, having given prejudiced excuses that best suit their respective interests. They seem to be totally unprepared to sit down and talk about the problem in the interest of national sports.

As a result, the authorities have lost the faith of Malaysians while Yang’s reputation has suffered further damage.

Such unfortunate incidents will leave a bad mark on the healthy development of sports in this country.







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As to the verdict on the assistant coach who was charged in court, the NST published on 21 February 2020 (relevant extracts only):

Ex-national aquatics coach freed from rape charge for third time

Former national diving coach Huang Qiang was today set free for the third time from a charge of raping a diving athlete three years ago. -NSTP/File pic

KUALA LUMPUR: Former national diving coach Huang Qiang was today set free for the third time from a charge of raping a diving athlete three years ago.

This was after the High Court upheld the Sessions Court’s decision which acquitted and discharged Huang on April 9, 2018 and Jan 31, last year.

Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali made the decision after dismissing an appeal by the prosecution.

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kt last notes:

Incidentally the two divers most persistent in wanting Yang Zuilang's contract ended were Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri.

Why? You have to ask them.

But bear this in mind. There was an incident (before the KL SEA games) where a source said, “Dhabitah had an injury while training for the SEA Games. A (unnamed) NSI officer wanted her to withdraw from the Games but Yang didn’t follow orders and put Dhabitah in the games. In the end, Dhabitah managed to take gold.”

If Dhabitah did not participate as the (unnamed) NSI officer had wanted, would she have won her gold medal? Obviously Yang assessed that all Dhabitah needed was a wee push as she was of 'gold' material.

There appeared to have been too much of a ready-to-give-up mentality at the NSI which of course Yang Zuilang would not countenance. And that's how Malaysia won one extra gold at the KL SEA Games.

 

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MM Online (23 Dec 2017)

Yang Zhuliang: Divers wanted me out too

Yang Zhuliang will now return to China. — Picture by Mukhriz Hazim

PETALING JAYA, Dec 23 — National diving coach Yang Zhuliang admitted he is aware that it was not just officials who want him gone but also some of the star divers too.

“I know some of the divers also want me to leave,” he told Malay Mail yesterday.

The outgoing 53-year-old coach however remained calm and was also quick to stress he will decline the offer made by the National Sports Council for him to take charge of the development programme.

Asked why NSI and some divers were adamant on him leaving, Zhuliang just answered: “I just want to thank them for all of this,” he said.

He then added he will go back to China.

“Yes, people can be cruel sometimes but I’m going to say no to the offer (to coach the development programme),” he said.

Zhuliang’s contract under the Podium Programme will end on Dec 31 as the National Sports Institute have decided not to renew it although the team will be competing at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and the Jakarta Asian Games next year.

NSI explained Zhuliang’s coaching methods are “old school” despite producing a world champion in Cheong Jun Hoong and Olympic medallists (Pandelela Rinong and Jun Hoong).

NSI, who handles the elite Podium Programme, has opted for Australian Christian Brooker to run the national team with China’s Zhang Yukun.

Zhuliang said his relations with NSI has also soured.

For the record, Zhuliang first came to Malaysia in 2001 but left four years later for Australia.

He is in his second stint with the diving team since 2008.

Meanwhile, Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said in a media statement yesterday under Zhuliang there is a “culture and environment of fear” among the athletes.

That led the Sports Ministry to the conclusion of not extending Zhuliang’s contract.