“It leaves people with a bad taste in their mouths,” said Law King Kiew, who competed as a weightlifter at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney.
Last Tuesday at the Tokyo Paralympics, Ziyad posted a world record 17.94m on his third attempt, only to be told later that he had been disqualified for showing up at the call room three minutes late. The gold medal went to Maksym Koval of Ukraine, prompting Ziyad’s fans to accuse him of robbing the Malaysian hero of his glory.
Various forms of insults were thrown at Koval on social media and “MH17” started trending on Wednesday. This is in reference to the plane that was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing 298 people.
Law told FMT, “This sort of behaviour makes us look bad and, in my opinion, there’s no place for it. It casts our fans and the country in a negative light.”
She said the Ukrainians had done nothing more than compete and did not deserve the abuse they received.
“Of course, people want to support our athletes, but this isn’t the right way to do it.
“Ultimately, the rules are the rules. If his coaches and trainers were not able to make sure Ziyad made it to the call room on time, we need to be asking why that was the case.”
She said all sports had rules that some might find arbitrary, recalling her time as a technical judge when plasters were not allowed on the bodies of Paralympic weightlifters.
Malaysian swimmer Muhd Nur Syaiful Zulkafli was disqualified in the 200m freestyle in Tokyo for wearing a plaster over a boil on his shoulder.
“The plaster doesn’t do anything for your performance, but it doesn’t matter,” Law said. “If that’s the rule, then you have to make sure you follow it. It needs to be communicated to the athlete by the trainers so that issues like this don’t arise.”
She said she sympathised with Ziyad, but offered some words of encouragement.
“The next games will be in three years’ time. He’s only 31. So he can come back and do it again.
“This must be difficult for him, especially with all the uproar around it. But this isn’t his last chance. I’m sure he’ll be able to come back if he wants to.”
Her comments echo those of International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence, who yesterday hit out at the treatment the Ukrainians had received from Malaysian fans.
“There’s been a massive outpouring of emotion from many Malaysians on social media. Very abusive. Ridiculous, in my view,” Spence said.
“People say the Ukrainian stole the gold. No, absolutely not.”
He said the onus to show up on time, as per the regulations, was on the athletes.