Olympic bronze medal winners Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, along with national coaching director Rexy Mainaky, held a press conference at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 1 (KLIA) on Wednesday (Aug 7) following their return from the Paris Olympics.
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SportsTranscript
00:00For you guys, as a men's swimmer, can you share your feelings or overall satisfaction with
00:19your performance in the 2024 Paralympic Games?
00:22I think for this Olympics, we have learnt a lot from this Olympics and we got our second
00:31bronze medal in our second Olympics and I think this Olympics is special for us because
00:38I think we come back a lot from the difficult side and finally we got the bronze again.
00:52What is the difference between the Tokyo 2020 and the Paralympic Games?
00:58It's different because in the Tokyo 2020, there were no supporters and now when we enter
01:06the stadium, we can feel the pressure in the Olympics so it's a different situation.
01:15I think Aaron and I are happy because we can overcome a lot of situations there and maybe
01:21we couldn't deliver a goal but we are satisfied because we got a medal for Malaysia.
01:28How do you see the hope of Malaysian people who gave all the support to come to KLIA?
01:37Maybe you want to say something to them?
01:41We have to thank our fans and supporters in Malaysia and those who came to Paris to
01:49support us, we have to thank them too.
01:52If you want to thank them, there are a lot.
01:56DM, RTG's team, coaches, our teammates, our family.
02:03These are the people who always support us no matter how.
02:08Aaron, two Olympics, two bronze medals.
02:10It's not lack of trying.
02:11You guys did everything.
02:13Moving forward, that closeness to closing the gap to go to the finals.
02:19It should be a process that starts from here for LA or how do you see this challenge?
02:24I think there is still a lot of room for improvement for me.
02:32We have to prepare if we really want to fight for 2028 LA.
02:42It starts from a few years from now.
02:45We have to prepare and take care of our health.
02:49In terms of abilities in that level, we know it's not just that.
02:56There's more needed because everyone can win in the Olympics if it's on the right day.
03:01Is that the next factor?
03:03Do you see this is something that we can fix for 2028 LA?
03:10I think because everyone is going for the gold medal, right?
03:14And we are going for the gold medal too.
03:17It's quite tough actually, the competitive.
03:21Everybody analyses us, we analyse everybody.
03:25I think during the semifinals, it's a crucial point.
03:30China did some best strategy against us.
03:35So I think there's no doubt they are still the best.
03:39But I think we also did our part, we also did our best.
03:44We really gave it all from our training.
03:48Everything came out and I think we are satisfied with our performance.
03:52In terms of after this, as the Olympics are over,
03:56how long break do you need to get back into the competition mode?
03:59Any targets after this?
04:01I think there's only a few days break.
04:03And we are leaving to Japan Open and Korea Open probably.
04:08So it's not much time for us to rest.
04:11No family time, wife, kids.
04:13I think only these few days.
04:15Back to job.
04:17Before that, how good is it for you to be back home after the Olympics?
04:21Back home before going overseas.
04:24I think it's good to be back in Malaysia.
04:27I think there's another boost for us to go further on.
04:34Do you have any celebration?
04:38I think not much.
04:40All I want to celebrate is with my family.
04:44I just want to go home to have a chit-chat with them.
04:48Because we had a long time break and didn't see them.
04:52I also stayed in BM recently.
04:55We went to Paris for a few months and didn't see my family.
05:00I'm very grateful that I have this time to meet them.
05:04Overall performance, we can say that
05:07we didn't reach our target of winning the gold medal.
05:13But these two races have been a good result
05:20for us to come back.
05:22Because in Tokyo, we only had one gold medal.
05:24But we came back with two gold medals.
05:26That's a good result.
05:28But for the performance,
05:30from all the numbers and disciplines,
05:34Li Xieqie, Beregu, mixed doubles, men's doubles, women's doubles,
05:39and also Go Jinwei,
05:41their performance is very consistent.
05:43Because this is Go Jinwei's first time.
05:46Aaron Ayi's second time, Li Xieqie's second time.
05:49Most of the other players, it's their first time.
05:51But their performance is consistent.
05:53Mixed doubles can be the top of the group,
05:56can beat defending champions.
05:58But the women's doubles,
06:00Go Jinwei can drag the Korean players
06:06to three sets and almost win.
06:08That's something that I can say that
06:11I'm happy with the performance of all the players.
06:14But we can't just be happy,
06:16but what do we want to do next?
06:18The performance is just a small luck.
06:20How can we close the small one
06:23so that we can win in 2028?
06:27The biggest lesson.
06:30What's the biggest lesson?
06:32What's the biggest lesson?
06:34We have to be brave to learn from countries like China, Japan, Korea.
06:41That's what we haven't done yet.
06:44We have to be brave to do what they do
06:47so that we can speak further in 2028.
06:50So this is the lesson we have to learn.
06:53What we have done is quite good.
06:57The support from ARTG,
06:59the support from BAM, management,
07:02MSN, ISN, OCM,
07:05everything is quite good.
07:08But what do we need?
07:10Because at the end of the day,
07:12the one who will compete in the quarterfinals are the players.
07:15We have to make sure that all the players feel that
07:18they don't have to be afraid of anything.
07:21Maybe like Aaron and Zoe,
07:25and Peli and Tina,
07:26at the crucial point,
07:27there's a little bit that they don't have to do,
07:31but they have to do it,
07:32but they don't do it.
07:33So this is the luck that makes them lose in the semifinals.