Now, the 20-year-old has become Malaysia’s first Winter Olympian and stands a good chance of placing in the top 20 in the men’s singles event, NBC Olympics said today.

Yee, who will represent Malaysia at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, will also carry the flag at the opening ceremony on Feb 9.

The report said this marked “a full circle” for the young athlete, who credits his trip to a figure skating camp in Pyeongchang eight years ago for cementing his interest in the sport.

In 2016, Yee moved to Ontario, Canada, to train under former German competitive skater Michael Hopfes, who had competed at the world championship level.

He also started a crowdfunding page that year to help him qualify for the Olympics.

“Training in Canada is not cheap. Our target was CAD30,000 and we got CAD16,000. It has really helped,” he said in the report.

Last year, Yee returned to Malaysia for the SEA Games where he clinched the gold medal.

The year before, he finished 21st in the world championships. He also finished eighth at the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Japan.

According to the report, Yee is unfazed by the pressure ahead of the Winter Olympics.

“Few people would have believed a Malaysian could qualify. And now I want to come and compete,” he was quoted as saying.

In an Instagram post on Feb 3, he acknowledged the difficulties he had faced in getting where he is today.

“If you want to be an ice skater in Malaysia, it doesn’t come easy. But you know what? I did what I couldn’t!” he said.