KUALA LUMPUR: As another Olympics ended with Malaysia failing to win any gold, the burning question of "how can we achieve it" continues to haunt the country.
What else is needed to win that elusive gold medal? What more can we do? It has been 68 years of trying and failing since Malaysia started competing in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
The 26-member Malaysian contingent returned from the Paris Games with only two badminton bronze - from men's singles Lee Zii Jia and men's doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.
Sports analyst Sadek Mustaffa said though Malaysian athletes performed admirably in Paris, there needs to be adjustments to the country's sports systems.
He said Malaysia should look at successful Olympic nations like China, and emulate their methods.
"There must be a change in mentality. Coaches at national level must have the X factor. For example, coaches like Pep Guardiola employs data and analytics in his training approach.
"We need coaches who put their athletes' achievements as the main priority," said the Universiti Teknologi Mara Sports Science and Recreation senior lecturer.
"We also need coaches who are used to high performance and high level competitions.
"There's a need for multilateral input in coaching. Whatever training that can help an athlete improve, must be studied. For example using diving coaching techniques in archery athletes' training.
"Coaches must be able to innovate training and include sports psychology. The best example is to emulate how China produces Olympic winners."
Sadek pointed out that Chinese athletes' mental fortitude and ability to handle opponents' psychological warfare at the Paris Olympics have made the difference.
China's world swimming champion Pan Zhanle said he had been given the cold shoulder by some of his rivals in Paris, but he went on to win the men's 100m freestyle gold with a new world record.
"China's psychological warfare is another thing that we can study and adapt. Their athletes are unfazed despite attempts to disrupt their focus and when a win is needed, they really deliver.
"There's a need to change our mindset in preparing our athletes. We have four more years to prepare for the next Olympics, 48 months for it and we need to get ourselves to start working," said Sadek.