IN 2011, Azizulhasni Awang did not shed a tear, and rode on despite a 20cm wood splinter skewering his calf after a horrific crash at the World Cup in Manchester.
On Sunday in Tokyo, he cried after winning an Olympic silver. But it was not the tears of joy; it was the tears of disappointment.
Azizulhasni was even apologetic. Though appreciative Malaysians knew the Pocket Rocketman had given his best shot, second prize was no consolation for him.
Prior to Tokyo, Malaysian sports officials were cautious in their prediction, setting a three-medal target, including a gold, and hoping Malaysia would hit pay dirt in cycling. Badminton and diving.
When the Olympic dust settled in the Land of the Rising Sun, Malaysia found itself clutching one silver and one bronze through Azizulhasni and badminton doubles Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. This was greeted with mixed feelings; there was pride and there was something missing.
Despite Malaysia having reaped four silver and one bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, there were no good follow-up plans to Tokyo. Undoubtedly, all the 30 Malaysian athletes gave their best.
After all, this was the "Greatest Show on Earth", and the least they could do was to give their best. But clearly their best was not enough for the best prize — the elusive gold which Malaysia has never won since the country competed in its first Olympics in 1956 in Melbourne.
Malaysian athletes lamented about Covid-19 disrupting their preparations. But then again, the pandemic has levelled the playing field by impacting the lives of every athlete on Earth.
It's about how fast and well athletes can adapt to the new normal. In Tokyo, it was business as usual for a veritable number of athletes from other nations, who went on to break world and Olympic records.
As Malaysian officials look at moving forward with new training programmes post-Tokyo 2020, how about looking to fellow Asian nations, Japan and South Korea, for some templates?
Japan finished third at the Tokyo Games with 27 gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze, while South Korea got six gold, four silver and 10 bronze.
As for Malaysia, thanks to Azizulhasni's silver on the very last day of the Olympics, we didn't have to scroll deep down the medal table. Malaysia finished No. 74 out of 205 countries.
There will be the usual animated post-mortem of athletes' performances followed by the "what's next?" question. Consider this. Malaysia should just focus on sports that it is good at.
Forget about getting as many people as possible to qualify for the Olympics. What's the point of finishing No. 45 or 50? These make-up-the-numbers athletes should instead try the Sea Games, Asian championships or other international tournaments.
If they improve, by all means, get them to the Olympics. Go for quality, not quantity. Take San Marino, for example. The tiny European country is just 61 square kilometres, much smaller than Perlis and has only 33,860 citizens, much fewer than Malaysia's 32 million population.
San Marino sent only five athletes to Tokyo. Yet, the Sammarinese shone in women's trap shooting and wrestling, winning one silver and two bronze.
And San Marino finished at No. 72 on the medal table, two rungs higher than Malaysia. Malaysia has nothing to lose with new strategies. And Paris 2024 is only three years away.