🥇🥈🥉 Southeast Asia in the Olympics

Hello friends!

A split across Southeast Asia with some countries bringing home great hauls and others returning empty-handed. Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Timor-Leste and Vietnam (!) all missed out on a podium spot. 

Below isn’t an exhaustive list (I don’t care about sports at all) of the region’s medals but the stuff I read and found interesting. 

Also just flagging, I think it’s super unlikely the Thai Constitutional Court will boot Srettha Thavisin from office today but it is a possibility. Back in your inboxes if that happens.

Let’s crack in,

Erin Cook

🇰🇭 Cambodia won, actually

Cambodia’s small but mighty delegation didn’t bring home any medals, but I’m convinced they’re the real winner of the whole thing. Rapper VannDa, who I’ve raved about in these pages at least twice, was a surprise addition to the closing ceremony! What! 

He brought his Time to Rise to the world, this time doubling up with arch-hipster French band Phoenix instead of the late, great Master Kong Nay. Thank you very much to reader and friend of the letter Lily — without your heads up I would’ve missed it for hours! 

🇮🇩 Indonesia moves on from badminton

Last Thursday was a ‘golden day’ for Indonesia at the Games, writes the Jakarta Post. It marked the first time Indonesia won more than one gold at any Games since 1992 in Barcelona after Rizki Juniansyah picked up the country’s first gold in weighlifting. “I’m very grateful to God for making history with the first gold medal in weightlifting [for Indonesia] in the Olympics,” he said in an official statement followed up by a classic Indonesian-doing-great line: “Thank you. This is for the 79th anniversary of Indonesia's Independence Day.” Well done, Rizki! 

His gold came right off the back of Veddriq Leonardo’s win in speed climbing — surely the most insane Olympic event I've seen (as an Australian, I’m repressing all memories of a certain other event that was insane). “I feel very happy, very joyful. My heart raced (in the competition), but I stayed focused and finished it,” he said. His heart raced for just over four seconds, which is how long it took him to climb that wall. What in the world! 

It’s the first time Indonesia has won golds outside of badminton in any Olympics and, for badminton legend Greysia Polii at least, diversification is a great sign for the years ahead. “How can I not cry witnessing Indonesia’s growing prowess in sports today?” she wrote in a post to social media in celebration, as per the Jakarta Globe. “If there is no badminton, from what sport can Indonesia expect Olympic medals? We represent a great nation, so how come badminton is the only sport that delivers gold medals to Indonesia?” 

🇸🇬 Singapore’s young kite rider hero

Singapore has taken home only one medal — bronze — but what a story! The city is celebrating kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder who, at 17, has become the country’s youngest-ever medallist. Good for him, and great timeline here of his short but great career from Channel News Asia. And just so I’m not the only one questioning everything: yes, he was born in 2006. Lee Hsien Loong had been prime minister for two years before Maximilian was born. Cool!  

🇲🇾 Two bronzes not enough for Malaysian fans

Malaysia is not happy with its showing — two bronzes, both in badminton events. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says some comments made towards Malaysian athletes could be construed as cyberbullying and are unacceptable. But, the government does want to take a look at how to get the team higher on the tally. “I want to congratulate those in the Olympics and those who tried their best. We must accept this result. We hope that in future, we will finish several new plans to improve the national sports performance,” Anwar said on Monday. 

Cyberbullying athletes from the couch is just about the rudest thing I can think of*. Channel News Asia has more here. 

(*Again, an exception can be made for Australians this time around.)

🇹🇭 Tennis wins the taekwondo

Panipak Wongpattanakit goes by the name ‘Tennis’ to her friends and that’s given headline writers world over a field day after she picked up gold in, obviously, taekwondo. She defended her Tokyo gold downing China's Guo Qing 2-1 in the 49kg class, BBC reports. I love her and there’s a great profile from WSJ below. 

What a great attitude from Thai badminton player Kunlavut Vitidsarn. He lost in the final to a Danish player, but took home silver and saw his global ranking climb from number eight to number four. “Coming to the Olympics for the first time and winning a medal, even if it’s not gold, is not a bad thing. From now on, I will try to go back and continue developing myself,” he said. Too true. 

🇻🇳 What next for medalless Vietnam?

Team Vietnam has gone home empty-handed, which has prompted some soul-searching from parts. Why have the other big dogs of Southeast Asia got some goodies and not Vietnam? After all, a year ago the country dominated the Southeast Asia Games for the second time running, VN Express reports. Not only has Vietnam slid behind its neighbours, but it’s also sliding behind its own legacy. Well, that’s a bummer but Hanoi has certainly won gold in regional powerhouse building so can’t feel too bad for everyone. 

🇲🇲 National pride in the time of the junta

Due to the pandemic delay of Tokyo 2020, Paris is actually the second Games since the military junta seized control of the country. Plenty of would-be Olympians boycotted in 2021, but what of this year? Not so much coverage sadly. Myanmar sent badminton players and swimmers, though all came home empty-handed. 

🇵🇭 Double gold has set Carlos for life

Gymnast Carlos Yulo — you’re the king! I love this bloke. He became the Philippines’ first-ever double gold medallist after picking up the top spot in vault and artistic gymnastic events. Manila hands out cash for medallists and two golds is quite the windfall for Carlos. 

Ahead of the Games, I read this great piece in Nikkei about the post-Pacman future of Filipino boxing so I was keeping a close eye on that. In safe gloves with Aira Villegas, by the looks of it. The 29-year-old flyweight boxer booked an unexpected but very welcome bronze, ESPN reports. She’s joined by Nesthy Petecio who booked her own bronze in the featherweight. 

I also really loved this piece from Rappler. Filipino ancestry is found the world over and other national teams at the Olympics are no exception. 

A decent showing for all and what a wholesome fortnight! Still, we can’t miss the inter-Asean beef. Malaysia might’ve won with this one:

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The Thai Women Punching Their Way Out of Poverty (NYT)

“From working in the fields, from working in the sun, we get the fighting spirit,” said Thananya Somnuek, who started boxing as a young teenager in Isaan.

Thananya won a national championship at 16 and later a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games. Her nickname in Thai is Butter, because her mother had a premonition that her daughter would one day go to a foreign country where people ate such foreign ingredients. One of Thananya’s boxing squad teammates, another Isaan native, is nicknamed Cream. Both Butter and Cream made it to Paris.

Officials flying Singapore’s flag high at Paris Olympics (Straits Times)

“I am the only judge from South-east Asia, I would not want to make any mistakes in such a prestigious event and tarnish the reputation of Asian judges.

“Hence, the pressure I have felt is tremendous, and I have never been so stressed out before.”

The former national gymnast decided to go for a judging exam after setting up a gymnastics academy. He failed the exam initially before passing in 2006.

Sng quipped: “As gymnasts, judges were the ones we used to blame for our low scores. My first judging experience was at a local club competition and I got a complaint from parents for awarding very low scores.”

Her Name Is Tennis. Her Siblings Are Bowling and Baseball. And She Just Won Gold in Taekwondo. (WSJ)

It didn’t take long for Tennis to realize she wasn’t a natural at tennis. Instead, she watched her father and her older siblings play a bunch of different sports before figuring out which one she liked.

“I did try tennis, but it wasn’t good,” Tennis said. “Taekwondo is the best for me.”  

It turns out Bowling and Baseball didn’t excel at the sports they were named after, either. They became competitive swimmers.

Mac and cheese for life! Philippines’ heartfelt gifts to Carlos Yulo after double Olympic gold (The Guardian)

“No words can express how proud we are of you,” Marcos said. “Filipinos all over the world stood united, cheering and rooting for you.”

Carlos was described as a “sports hero” and “national treasure” by the speaker of the lower house, Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. Yulo will be given 6m Philippines pesos (£81,319/US$103,676) and a congressional medal, and is due to receive 10m pesos under a law that promises incentives to athletes.

Private sector companies, big and small, announced a flurry of gifts, including a fully furnished three-bedroom unit worth 32m pesos (£433,444/US$552,802) in Taguig City, Metro Manila. Yulo was also offered lifetime supplies of free buffets, baked mac and cheese, and chicken inasal, a grilled chicken dish, by various chain restaurants.