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| With young Nicol David (squash player) |
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| With Sam Cheong (billiard player) |
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| My shooting team mates |
Last night, while watching the athletes and officials marching into the Olympic Stadium, I can’t help but reminisce the excitement, joy and thrill I felt when entering the stadium in Busan about a decade ago. To appreciate all of the emotions, allow me to share with you my experience.
The day before the “opening ceremony” of the Games, I was informed by the Malaysian Secretariat that not everyone will be in the Contingent during the march in. The reason being that only a specific number of spaces were given by the organisers and therefore, a selection would need to be made by the Secretariat. I only got to know in the evening that my name was included the list for the march in. Needless to say, I was thrilled to bits.
The opening ceremony was to be held at 7.00pm but we were told to assemble in front of our apartment complex at 3.00pm. We were all dressed in “baju melayu” (for the men) and “baju kurung” for the ladies. Besides our traditional attire, we were also issued “long johns” by the National Sports Council as it was predicted that it could get really cold in the evening at the stadium. Being Malaysians, we were not used to that sort of coolness. We were also giving small Malaysian flags (“jalur gemilang”) to wave as we marched. While we were lining up, our team mates were at the balcony shouting “Malaysia Boleh” and cheering. It was a bit sad to see them being left out but in the spirit of the Games and unity, they did not let that be a hindrance to their patriotism and fighting spirit!
When we finally boarded the bus, there was a sound of relief from our contingent. Our bus was escorted by police cars to the stadium. While in our bus, we could see the citizens of Korea both old and young on the street waving at us and cheering. It was such a lovely experience for me. You could really feel the joy and positiveness in the air. One of the best things about hosting an International Games is that you bring a sense of unity, pride, patriotism and happiness to your people. For a while, everyone tends to put their problems away and just enjoy the Games!
When we arrived at the stadium, we were not allowed to enter but rather we were asked to wait at an adjacent field until being given a signal to enter. While waiting, we were moving about and chatting with athletes from other countries. One of the common interest was exchanging of pins. Before we left for the Games, we were given 20 pins each to exchange with the athletes of other countries. A tip for those who will be participating in future Games, do it quickly (I mean exchange the pins) when you arrive at the Games Village. If you wait for a few days, the chances of getting someone to exchange with you will be very slim.
When it was time for us to enter the stadium, all of us adjusted our “baju melayu” and “songkok”. People were cheering us along that long road leading to the tunnel in the stadium. I quickly make a call to my wife, Jennifer in Kuala Lumpur to ask her to get ready as the Malaysian Contingent would be marching into the stadium real soon. I had a handycam with me and recorded the whole scene, it was truly awesome.
After marching in, we were in the middle of the stadium, cheering and taking photographs of the other participants. One of the big surprises that day was when the athletes from both North Korea and South Korea marched in together hand-in-hand for the very first time. They got the loudest cheer not because South Korea was hosting the Games but because of the friendship gesture shown by both countries. Both contingents marched in to the tune of “Ari-rang”.
The highlight of the moment was when the Games torch bearer came into the stadium to light the flame representing the start of the Games. It was an incredible sight. After that the organisers asked us to move to a reserved section of the stadium to watch the rest of the events. After the Games, there were some exchanges of attires with other countries. I must say that our “songkok” was quite a hit with the locals and foreign participants. Everyone wanted to get hold of our “songkok”. Some of our members gave away theirs’ while I held on tightly to mine.
After the “opening ceremony”, there was a minor chaos as everyone was in a confused mode as to which bus to take. All of a sudden, our bus had gone missing and we were left stranded. When we climbed to a random bus, we were told by the passengers that the bus was carrying participants from a particular country. So, for a while there, we were like nomads wandering from bus to bus until one of the Korean Officials saw us and directed us to climb up to any of the buses because all of them have the same destination - the Games Village. There was a slight argument and misunderstanding when some passengers from a particular country refused to allow us entry as they said the bus was reserved for athletes from their country only. Luckily the Korean Official was nearby and he came up and told off the passengers and asked to go up and take any empty seats. Bravo to the Korean Official! When we got into the Games Village, it was almost midnight but like I wrote earlier the food hall was opened 24 hours so there weren’t any worries about being hungry.
My next post would be on about our shooting competition at the 14th Asian Games 2002. Stay tuned!
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