This prompts a look back at how far the sport in Malaysia has come since its Olympics debut 20 years ago.
Back then, only one archer made it to the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece: Mon Redee Sut Txi.
FMT Lifestyle met with the country’s first arrow-slinging Olympian at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris in Tanjung Malim, Perak, where she is now a lecturer and coach.
Hailing from the small town of Pengkalan Hulu in Gerik, Perak, Sut Txi was just 22 when she was catapulted onto the world stage. “It felt like a dream come true,” she recalled.
“I started archery because I wanted to represent Malaysia, that’s all. I was thinking, ‘How do I become a Malaysian athlete? How can I wear Malaysian sportswear?’
“I didn’t care what sport. I felt that no matter what, I had to become an athlete.”
Having always enjoyed sports in school, Sut Txi discovered archery when she was in Form 2. She gradually worked her way up to the national team in 2001, becoming part of Malaysia’s first batch of archers who participated in the SEA Games.
As an ambitious young athlete, Sut Txi set her sights high. “During the SEA Games, I casually asked our coach, Lee Jae-Hyung, whether I could go to the Olympics.
“He sort of looked at me up and down for a while, and said, ‘Sure, why not?’”
Definition of an ‘Olympic champion’
You might be surprised to learn that just two years before the 2004 Olympics, she had been ranked lower than her fellow Malaysian archers.
Sut Txi thus pushed herself with discipline and training, and this paid off when she came in third place at the World Championships in 2003, earning a ticket to the Games.
There, she placed 32nd in the women’s individual ranking round with a 72-arrow score of 626. In the first round of elimination, she lost 154-143 in the 18-arrow match to Natalia Bolotova of Russia, placing 44th overall in women’s individual archery.
Speaking about her experience in Athens, Sut Txi recalls a conversation she will never forget: when she congratulated Korean archer and gold medallist Park Sung-hyun, who had just broken an Olympic record.
“She said thank you, but she felt she could have done better because her body condition wasn’t great.”
Sut Txi remembers being in shock upon hearing this. And from that simple interaction, she took away a valuable lesson.
“That’s what we mean by ‘world champion’ or ‘Olympic champion’. They are never proud of what they have achieved, but rather think they need to work harder.”
This aside, she said the best part about being at the Olympics was meeting world-renowned athletes from various sports.
“The atmosphere was amazing. I got to see what their character was like, their lifestyle. That’s why I always tell the young ones: ‘If you want to be a great athlete, just follow what they do. One day you will get there.'”
Although she shortly retired after her Olympic stint owing to injuries, she says once an athlete, always an athlete.
“If I don’t go out to the field even for one day, I feel like I have a fever,” Sut Txi admitted with a laugh.
Today, the now 44-year-old remains dedicated to training the next generation of archers in Malaysia, who are gearing up for the Malaysia Games (Sukma).
Indeed, from having just five archers in the national team, the sport has attracted many young talents and has seen tremendous growth in the country.
And although the women’s recurve team at the Paris Olympics may have missed their mark, Sut Txi is still hopeful for the future.
“As we know, the Olympic Games are not easy to win a medal in. But our trio has shown a good performance during qualification and elimination rounds,” she said of the recent results.
“They are still young; we hope they can continue to improve on their shooting and score in the future and, of course, in the next Olympic Games.”
With that, let’s remain optimistic that archery will contribute to Malaysia’s Olympic medal tally in 2028.