KUALA LUMPUR: You can train four years for the Olympics, but it's what you do in the last two weeks that matters.
And tweaking Malaysia's fastest man, Azeem Fahmi, to peak at the Paris Games is the mission of Malaysia Athletics Federation technical director Robert Ballard.
Australian Ballard said Azeem's next two weeks of preparations is key to his performance in Paris.
Azeem is a big-time performer, having set the 100m national record of 10.09 seconds at the Under-20 World Championships in Cali, Colombia, in 2022.
Ballard said with the Olympics just 15 days away, the most important thing is for the 20-year-old to peak at the right time.
"You can do four years of preparation leading up (to the Olympics) but if you fail to implement all the right strategies in the last two weeks, you will miss the opportunity to perform at your best," said Ballard.
To help Azeem to peak, Ballard who has coached at Olympic level, has enlisted professionals from the National Sports Institute to provide the Perakian with the support that he needs.
At the same time, Ballard urged Azeem to be at ease and thinks of the Olympics as just another competition, even though he wants the Asian Games bronze medallist to peak in Paris.
"We are not asking him to do something extraordinary. We just want Azeem to keep doing what he has been doing in training.
"I'm also working closely with coach Ken Harden (Azeem's coach at Auburn University) and NSI to find any small performance gaps.
"Like Azeem mentioned, there are not going to be any significant changes, we're talking changes of like 0.001 per cent.
"Subtle changes in body positions will significantly improve performance, so we are not trying to change his whole technique," added Ballard.