Results wise, Malaysian aquatics is so diluted this year, hardly any achievements in the pool, hardly a ripple of excitement.
The national diving team that used to deliver in international events, have been a big let down.
There are no signs of progress in Malaysian swimming, which is still submerged in mediocrity. Malaysia are still nowhere near the standards of even neighbouring countries.
While Covid-19 has affected diving and swimming to an extent, the pandemic cannot be solely blamed for Malaysia's decline in standards.
After all, the coronavirus scourge is sparing no one, as it has affected athletes around the world. Competitions were called off, matches abandoned at half-time, and preparations wrecked by last minute drastic changes.
But yet athletes from other countries were able to go on to deliver a semblance of their best, especially at the Tokyo Olympics. Sadly, this is not the case for Malaysians.
Take China for example. Their divers have not been seen publicly for more than a year ever since the pandemic broke out.
But China's divers still brought out their best, especially in the form of their newly found 14-year-old star Quan Hongchan, as they swept seven of the eight gold medals at stake.
Malaysia, on the other hand, were not only unable to unearth any new talent, but also fared miserably at the Olympics, finishing without a diving medal for the first time since 2008.
To rub salt into the wound, for the first time since 2008, none of our male divers even qualified for the Olympics after bungling their opportunities during the World Cup (which also acted as Olympic qualifier in Japan in May.
There were hopes that the experienced Pandelela Rinong would rise to the occasion in Tokyo. The Sarawakian went to the Olympics, high on confidence after winning the 10m platform individual gold at the World Cup.
Though Pandelela did well to reach the final, she could only finish a disappointing 12th.
The synchro pairing of Pandelela-Leong Mun Yee were also a letdown. Although they were the world championships silver medallists, the pair were unable to rise to their usual high standards in the Olympics, and finished eighth out of eight pairs in the 10m platform synchro event.
It was also a sad outcome for 2017 world champion Cheong Jun Hoong who was clearly not at her best as she failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the 10m platform individual.
If there was a bright spark, it would have to be Nur Dhabitah Sabri who performed well to finish fourth in the women's 3m springboard individual in the Olympics.
Although she missed out on an Olympic medal, it is a positive sign for Dhabitah who is only 22, and can still do better with the right support.
For swimming, it doesn't take an expert to know that Welson Sim, who performed creditably at the 2016 Olympics, has been on a sharp decline.
The Sarawakian, afflicted by injuries, has been completely off the pace this year. Welson has a lot of ground to make up as he finished with poor times in the 200m and 400m freestyle events.
Amid the gloom, Malaysian swimming can take comfort in the birth of a new star in Khiew Hoe Yean. The 18-year-old smashed two national records — 200m backstroke and 800m freestyle at the Malaysian Open in June — as well as dipping under the Olympic Selection Time (OST) in four events.
The 200m backstroke record was the most impressive as Hoe Yean rewrote Alex Lim's 23-year record of 2:00.94 with a time of 2:00.08.
Women's swimmer Phee Jinq En also performed admirably as she set a new 100m breaststroke national record with a time of 1:08.40 at the Olympics.
Both Hoe Yean and Jinq En have youth on their side and can be Malaysia's next generation of stars if given support by the National Sports Council (NSC).
But support will be hard to come by following the NSC's announcement of a drastic cut in funding for Podium Programme athletes with the number of full-time athletes reduced from 432 to 288.
In fact, only four swimmers — Welson, Hoe Yean, Jinq En and Arvin Shaun Singh — have been retained while Jun Hoong was the sole diver axed from the programme.
Malaysia Swimming secretary general Mae Chen voiced her disappointment over the cut in funding as this will affect the development of sports.
But she is keeping her fingers crossed that 2022 will usher in some positive news.
"It's been a tough year with lack of competition for the divers and swimmers. As it is now, there have been no competitions for a while and what they all are doing is training," said Mae.
"It's even tougher with the reduction in funding as sports need to have continuity. The budget cuts hurt us a lot.
"We hope this new Covid-19 situation with the Omicron variant does not worsen as we need to get our age-group swim meet up and running in January.
"There are also several major events next year but for diving, the calendar doesn't start until much later, so we still have time to plan ahead."
Words of optimism. But Malaysian swimming and diving need more than just positive words to stay afloat.