Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
Throughout the Tokyo Olympics 2020, our nation’s participating athletes have been nothing short of impressive. Meanwhile, Malaysians at home instead have been very unsportsman-like, even towards our own representatives.
Criticising national athletes who lost, throwing lewd remarks around, and even berating opponents of other countries on social media.
As a proud Malaysian, the condescending remarks made about our local heroes and fellow athletes around the world can easily be regarded as an embarrassment. What’s worse, this paints a very negative image of Malaysians for the world to see.
Not only do the online abusers become ambassadors of the country themselves and tarnish our prestige reputation in the world of sports, but they also contribute to harassment.
Farah Ann’s leotard being the centre of controversy
National gymnast Farah Ann, drew criticism from a few Malaysians at the Tokyo Olympics before even stepping a foot in to compete.
The 27-year-old artistic gymnast competed on the world stage in her self-designed leotard with crystals in the shape of a tiger on the right side of her body — resembling the team’s colours.
Though it sparked the interest of many, it also gained a lot of negative traction among conservative netizens.
It’s fascinating that online abuse can be so prevalent in the world of Malaysian sports, even when we feature on an international stage.
Netizens bashed Malaysian mixed doubles shuttlers for losing early in their bracket
Currently ranked 7th in the world, Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying were unable to find themselves out of the group play stage as they lost all of their matchups.
Image via The Star
In contrast to Lee’s victory, Malaysians were disappointed with our mixed doubles shuttlers’ performance. However, what’s not cool is that some took it upon themselves to express their dissatisfaction by leaving negative comments on the pair’s Facebook posts.
It seems that regardless of what the result may be anytime Team Malaysia takes the stage, there will always be online critics ready to slam with comments.
Even Malaysian hero Datuk Lee Chong Wei felt the need to intervene by calling out netizens for launching criticism to Chan and Goh. While defending the duo, the 39-year-old legend also encouraged netizens to instead support our athletes.
Screenshot via Facebook
Datuk LCW shared with the public the copious amount of pressure the athletes face every time they take the court, as well as expressed his respect towards the duo.
Brice Leverdez from France gets insults thrown at him after losing to Lee Zii Jia
Image via New Straits Times
Our Malaysian shuttler (pictured here) grasped a straight-sets victory over the 35-year-old Frenchman in their final group match on the 28th of July. This saw Lee Zii Jia advance to the Round-of-16 stage in the Men’s single event for badminton. Leverdez’s campaign in Tokyo on the other hand, ended there.
While Malaysians had every right to be ecstatic over the victory by our national warrior, Facebook quickly piled up with derogatory comments on Leverdez’s page.
Screenshot via Facebook
An earlier Facebook post from Leverdez following his first win in his campaign (before his meeting with Lee) was bombarded with distasteful comments from Malaysians, making a mockery over his loss.
This was the epitome of the expression “kicking a man when he’s down”. Imagine having just been knocked out of the Olympics, demotivated and demoralised, only to be met with even more negativity on social media.
This left other Malaysians with a sense of shame and disgust instead of pride in our country.
Other Malaysians took things into their own hands and chastised the toxic minority of commenters
Fortunately, it’s comforting to see that there were also other Malaysians who took things into their own hands and attempted to flush out the many negative comments with good spirited ones.
In that same post, they praised the French athlete for his efforts, and even apologized on behalf of the harassers.
Despite the provocative unsportsman-like behaviours from the abusers, it’s comforting knowing that there remains a substantial amount of respect by most Malaysians for Leverdez and his performance in the court. This goes out to the other posts highlighted as well.
At least, this reflects the beautiful unity we take pride in our nation when we stand together as we do every time the heroes appear on TV.
To those who left the toxic comments, shame on you instead.
For more stories like this, read: From a Hopeless and Awkward Gymnast to a SEA Games Gold Medalist
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