KUALA LUMPUR – The 2024 Paris Gold Programme Monitoring Committee has tightened its criteria for the selection of national athletes competing in the upcoming Olympics, limiting participants to those who are truly capable of sitting atop the podium.
After chairing its first meeting today, the committee’s chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the focus would be given to specific sports, events, and athletes that show gold medal-winning potential in the Games.
“Among the criteria discussed for the selection of participating athletes in the 2024 Paris Gold Programme include those who had won medals during the previous 2020 Tokyo Olympics and are currently placed in the top 10 in the world rankings,” he said.
“Those who won medals at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games will also be considered as well as those who have recently shown convincing performances.”
Norza said the committee has also taken an “open” approach to identify athletes who are based overseas but have family ties or origins from Malaysia and have recently competed at the international level.
He said the athletes selected to join the programme will be provided with the best services and support in terms of coaching, training, international competition exposure, and sports science.
He said the National Sports Council (NSC) has also been told to look into technical expertise that can improve training programmes and provide the athletes with the best “performance lifestyle” support, to ensure the gold medal target is achieved in Paris.
“The committee has also focused on the development and effectiveness of several research projects by the National Sports Institute (NSI), which aims to help elevate the performance of athletes in the 2024 Paris Gold Programme,” Norza added.
He said the NSC will also organise its 2024 Paris Gold Programme Planning Workshop together with sports associations, coaches, and athletes on October 24.
Also present at the meeting was NSC director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail, NSI chief executive officer Ahmad Faedzal Md Ramli, as well as former national badminton star Datuk Lee Chong Wei.
Previously, then youth and sports minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu said he was confident Malaysia can get its first Olympic gold in Paris after the Podium Programme saw an allocation of RM50 million under Budget 2023. – The Vibes, October 12, 2022
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