LETTERS: Over the past four years, our athletes have been making every possible effort to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics and 26 of them are now in France.
As further encouragement, gold medal winners are promised RM4 million in cash plus a luxury serviced apartment worth RM1 million.
More recently, a company offered RM1 million and another two firms pledged RM500,000 each.
These incentives are in addition to the RM1 million promised through the National Sports Incentive Scheme.
Additionally, athletes receive extensive publicity coverage, awards and other money-backed incentives.
College-level athletes, like the 16 in our current Paris squad, are also being groomed for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
They can obtain scholarships to train overseas with world-class coaches, like our track stars Azeem Fahmi and Shereen Samson Vallabouy. This will allow them to secure their futures by studying for their degrees.
The government and the National Sports Council also offer RM1 million to any athlete who wins gold, RM300,000 for a silver and RM100,000 for a bronze.
Private sponsors are also coming forward, including one that will reward a medallist with a sports utility vehicle. The incentives will further spur their motivation and drive them to excel.
So far, since Malaysia's inaugural participation in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, we have won 13 medals — eight silver and five bronze.
Badminton has yielded six silvers and three bronze, whereas cycling and diving both contributed one silver and one bronze.
Malaysia has won the highest number of medals without having yet won a gold. This year, we are waiting with high hopes to finally win that first gold.
Our neighbours Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines have already secured theirs.
If the Road to Gold Programme fails to meet the elusive gold target, perhaps heads should roll, and we must go back to the drawing board to review what went wrong and take measures to improve for the LA Olympics.
Shaping world-class athletes is no quick, easy feat.
It is accomplished by working hand in hand with national sports bodies and our school
systems and academies to identify diamonds in the rough early on.
Our pyramid system begins with our school population of 5.2 million students. In the top tier, at the national level, 12,000 to 14,000 students will vie for a place as the nation's best.
The top talents will move into the national squad at the Sea Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, and eventually to the Olympics, with a single one or two who are world-class.
The Youth and Sports Ministry, national sports associations, state and school systems all play an important role in investing in our future talent, with the help of corporate sponsorship, donations and community fundraising efforts.
With all the carrots being dangled, may the Paris Olympics bring the thrill of that first gold medal and, if not, let's also put a marker for success in the next edition in Los Angeles.
For now, may all Malaysians feel the joy of seeing the Jalur Gemilang being flown in Paris, while we proudly sing Negaraku as a nation.
C. SATHASIVAM SITHERAVELLU
Seremban, Negri Sembilan
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times