KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia House, a new initiative introduced under the Road to Gold (RTG) programme, is set to play a key role in the national contingents recovery process at the Paris Olympics from July 26 to Aug 11.
National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Abdul Rashid Yaakub said due to limited quotas, Malaysia is only able to place a handful of support service staff within the games village in Paris.
To work around this, RTG has decided to set up the Malaysia House at a hotel in the French capital, where various support services for athletes will be housed.
This includes masseuses, physiotherapists, psychologists and nutritionists, which all play a key role in an athlete's recovery process.
"There is a concern that the athletes' recovery process may be hampered if they have to depend on the common services (provided by organisers) within the games village," said Rashid yesterday.
"This is because athletes from other countries will also be vying for the same services.
"To overcome this, we have set up the Malaysia House to cater to our athletes' needs. It will all be under one roof and we can give it (service) to them fast to ensure they remain in optimum condition throughout the competition.
"Recovery is imperative for athletes competing at the highest level. We can also cater to their specific needs, including their food. All they have to do is inform us of what they need a day in advance and our nutritionists will prepare it for them.
"If necessary, we can also send staff members from the Malaysia House into the games village using daily passes. This is, however, limited to two staff members per day."
Rashid added that the athletes' transport between the games village and the Malaysia House may be arranged.
RTG, which was launched last year, is intended to complement what elite athletes already received through the Podium Programme.
In addition to extra sport science support, competition exposure and coaching, athletes under the RTG programme also receive an additional allowance of RM3,000 a month.