How Malaysia Won 3 Golds At The 2016 Paralympics And What This Means Beyond Sports
We’ve won a total of 3 Golds, 2 Silvers, and 5 Bronze Medals to-date.
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The Tokyo Olympics Games 2020 are over but let’s not forget the Paralympic Games – a major international sports competition for athletes with disabilities.
It also happens to be a sports competition that Malaysia has excelled at with three Golds that shine a light on our nation’s athletic prowess.
Malaysian Paralympians make history
History was made 10 September 2016 when Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi and Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli claimed Malaysia’s first-ever Paralympic Gold medals.
Not only did they win two Golds collectively between them in the athletics category, but they did it within an hour of each other with Ridzuan in the Men’s 100m T36 (a race for ambulant athletes with cerebral palsy) event and Ziyad in the Men’s Shot Put T20/F20 (for those with intellectual impairment).
Ziyad’s tremendous feat was also a new world record at the time with a throwing distance of 16.84m. Previous to his 2016 success, he had won Bronze in the same category at the 2012 Paralympic Summer Games
The trifecta of Gold was made the next day on 11 September when Abdul Latif Romly broke his own Long Jump T20/F20 world record which ultimately won Malaysia their third Gold.
Their amazing accomplishments does truly back up the saying that good things come in threes.
The success at the Rio Paralympics prove ‘nothing is impossible’ and placed Malaysia in 36th place of the 170 countries that took part in the Games that year.
Why the Paralympics are important
Aside from being the most prestigious, popular sports competition for disabled athletes internationally, the Paralympic Games play an important role in inspiring others to think differently about disability.
Described by Forbes contributor Caroline Casey:
Whilst often considered problematic or “less than” in other areas of life, in the context of sport, an athlete’s disability is simply athletic prowess, and outstanding commitment and resilience to be admired and inspired by, like any Olympian.
Caroline Casey, Contributor at Forbes, and social entrepreneur who covers disability inclusion in business.
Why are the Olympics and Paralympics two separate events?
While they both focus on sports, with the Paralympics for athletes with a disability, they are actually run by two separate organisations.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) represents able-bodied athletes while the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) represents Paralympic athletes.
Malaysia at the 2021 Paralympics
The question is, will our three Paralympian Golden boys from 2016 be participating in this year’s Paralympics in Tokyo?
Yes! Along with 19 other teammates in the categories of Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Boccia, Cycling, Powerlifting, Swimming, Table Tennis, and Wheelchair Tennis.
The Paralympic Games in Tokyo will begin on 24 August until 5 September.
Follow Team Malaysia on the official Paralympic Council of Malaysia website or the official Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games site here.
To catch the events live from Malaysia, Paralympic.org have listed the following on their site:
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