We bid farewell to the London Olympics which officially came to an end with Sunday’s spectacular closing ceremony. Malaysia’s contingent of 29 athletes put up an impressive performance, competing in various events over ten different sports. Two of our athletes also succeeded in bringing home one silver and one bronze medal. This brings our total medal tally to six (three silver and three bronze) since winning our very first medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Here’s a breakdown of how our brave Olympians fared this year.

Archery
Khairul Anuar Mohamad advanced to the quarterfinals of the individual event while fellow teammates Chen Chu Sian, Haziq Kamaruddin and the lady of the bunch, Nurul Syafiqah Hashim, were eliminated in the 1/32 round. The three men also competed together in the team event.

Athletics
Lee Hup Wei ranked 30th in the men’s high jump qualifications while Noraseela Mohd Khalid was ninth in the women’s 400m hurdles.

Badminton
Datuk Lee Chong Wei took home the silver medal in the badminton men’s singles finals after an intense fight against long-time rival Lin Dan of China. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he was the only Malaysian medalist and also procured a silver medal in the finals. Men’s doubles players Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong narrowly missed out on the bronze medal position while Chan Peng Soon, Goh Liu Ying and Tee Jing Yi did not make it past the preliminary stage of their mixed doubles and women’s singles event.

Cycling - Track
24-year-old Azizulhasni Awang competed in the track cycling men’s sprint and keirin finals, obtaining eighth and sixth place respectively. Fellow cyclist Fethah Mustapa on the other hand was ranked 5th in the women’s keirin first round repechages.

Cycling - Road
Road cyclists Muhamad Adiq Husainie Othman and Amir Mustafa Rusli did not manage to finish the men’s road race as a result of tactical problems.

Diving
Boasting the largest number of represented Malaysian athletes, our nation's diving team did well with flag bearer Pandelela Rinong Pamg snagging the bronze medal in the women’s 10m platform final. She also competed in two other diving events. Both Pandelela and Leong Mun Yee reached the finals of the synchronised 10m Platform, ranking seventh. Pandelela teamed up with Cheong Jun Hoong in the synchronised 3m springboard finals to get eighth. Jun Hoong ranked 20th while Ng Yan Yee was 24th in the 3m springboard preliminary rounds. Meanwhile, Traisy Vivien Tukiet competed in the 10m platform and reached the preliminary round.

The men were led by veteran diver Yeoh Ken Nee who seized the 10th position in the 3m springboard finals. Teammates Qiang Huang and Bryan Nickson Lomas participated in the synchronised 3m springboard finals, placing eighth. Both men unfortunately did not advance pass the preliminary rounds of the 10m platform (Bryan) and 3m springboard (Qiang) events with Bryan missing the semi-finals by a single place.

Fencing
Yu Peng Kean, the first Malaysian to qualify for Olympic fencing in 48 years, lost in his second match of the men’s individual sabre event.

Sailing
After ten races in the men’s laser race, Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy was eliminated and placed 47th overall.

Shooting
The heavily pregnant Nur Suryani competed in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle qualifying round. She grabbed the 34th spot.

Swimming
Heidi Gan finished 16th out of 24 qualifiers in the women’s 10km marathon while Khoo Cai Lin ranked sixth in the women’s 800m freestyle heats, with an overall position of 30. Agnetha Foong