KUALA LUMPUR: Former Olympian Marilyn Chua believes the national swimming development programme in Malaysia is in dire need of a revamp.
Marilyn, who is currently coaching Selangor, did not mince her words when describing the current state of affairs in swimming locally when compared to that of its neighbours.
“I believe our results at the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games and (Indonesia) Asian Games speak for themselves. The standard of Malaysian swimming seems to be getting worse and worse,” said Marilyn.
“I mean, we need to be both honest and realistic here. Look at how Singapore and Vietnam are doing. Singapore have already won an Olympic title, two gold at the Asian Games and 23 gold from swimming alone at the 2015 Sea Games.
“Vietnam did not even have an (Olympic) swimming pool 20 years ago, now they have won 10 gold at the (2015 and 2017) Sea Games and also swept everything at the SEA Age Group Championships recently, even beating Singapore.
“How are we doing? Worse and worse. A lot of things need to be changed across the board. It is much deeper than just changing the coach or what the Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia are doing.
“There are a lot of underlying issues which need to be addressed and systematic changes that need to be made such as development at the grassroots in the states and coaches education. There needs to be more funding and more competitions.”
Malaysia have not won more than five gold at the Sea Games since the 2009 Laos edition when the national team won nine titles. The country have also not won a medal at the Asian Games since Alex Lim’s silver in 2002 (Busan).
The national team clinched five gold at the Sea Games last year but that was helped by the addition of two events via the open water swimming which are optional.
Marilyn added that the development system in Malaysia has been stagnant since the 1980s and urged authorities to utilise the large number of grassroots level coaches keen on growing the sport.
“We have been using the same system that we were when I started swimming 30 years ago. Yes, it worked then when we only had 200 swimmers but things have changed, technology has changed, even the kids have changed.
“I am sorry to say this but a lot of administrators do not know much about swimming or sports as they were not athletes themselves before. They need to seek out people who have the competency, those who have been involved in the sport and love what they are doing.
“When you go to local competitions, you can see a lot of new, young coaches many of whom are former state or national swimmers who are looking to give back. They need to be given the proper education and given a chance to gain experience.”
Marilyn added that the coach selected to replace Australian Paul Birmingham as national head coach needs to look at the bigger picture.
“I think Birmingham did the best he could considering the resources and swimmers available to him. It is not easy coming here as a foreigner and trying to adapt to the culture and the way things are done here.
“I know that he could not execute a lot of things that he wanted to do.
“For me, it does not matter if the new coach is local or foreign, what matters is the value the coach can bring.
“This new coach needs to look at the big picture and how the sport is being developed across the country, not at just the 10 swimmers you have in the elite team. This is how it is done in countries such as the United States and Australia.
“Only then will you have a holistic programme and have a continuous supply of talent for the national team and not just wait and pray.”