Welcome Home, Our Heroes! (24/8/16)

  After a long 30-hour flight from Rio de Jernio, Brazil, our 32 Malaysian athletes have finally come back to the home soil to celebrate their victory at the recent Rio Olympic Games 2016. At around 2.18 pm, our heroes have arrived! As the plane lands, big splashes of water are sprinkled on the airport runway. There are approximately 5000 supporters to welcome the heroes, along side with dignitaries, families and friends. 

  I want to go, unfortunately the time they landed in Malaysia clashes with my time in college but that didn't stop me to catch the live event on Facebook. Major Mandarin presses such as China Press, Sinchew Daily and Oriental Daily News just to name a few. While television programmes such as Astro Arena and Astro BDQ are reporting live through Facebook as well, not forgetting some top listened radio stations like hitz.fm, MY FM as well as OneFM crews who join in the party as well. 

  While I'm on my way back from college, Kompleks Bunga Raya is packed with people who come to support our heroes. There are some entertainment from the footage too! Appearantly, national day celebration comes very early for these guys as a few entertainers sing some national themed songs like Jalur Gemilang and Saya Anak Malaysia. When the heroes make their grand entrance, the media are swarming them with cameras and supporters are shouting "Malaysia Boleh!" They are presented with a galland of flowers by the dignitaries. 

  The press conference begins as every athlete answers the media's questions about their sweet success in Rio. All eyes are on our badminton hero- Dato Lee Chong Wei. When the press ask about what are the values they learned from their success? Diving princess, Pandelela Pamg said "It's to inspire the younger generations of today to never give up on your dreams, work hard and most importantly to be confident in yourself," Badminton mixed doubles sliver medalist, Goh Liu Ying said that she hopes the juniors would take them as role models in order to achieve success. 

   The heroes are really surprised by the welcoming ceremony, they never thought they will come back as heroes. Recently, badminton men's doubles, Tan Wee Kiong, has become an Internet sensation overnight since he won the sliver medal with his partner, Goh V Shem. A heartwarming scene when a young fan presented her badminton gold medal to Chong Wei, which she won in her primary school days. To Chong Wei, he is the champion in our hearts as well as the heroes too! 

    Despite I'm having Cerebral Palsy since 18 months old, these athletes inspire me to dream big and never give up, no matter how hard the challenge is. If you asked me who is my biggest inspiration among them, I would say, Dato Lee. Why? You might ask. The answer is simple: He has this fighting spirit every time he goes on the badminton court. He has a very calm mind to face the challenges whether is on or off the court. 

  I have the book written by Lee himself, Dare to be A Champion. The book caught my attention when I was at the Popular Book fest in 2012. The book is about Lee's life from his childhood days to his road as becoming the champion of the people today. Let me just take a quote from the book: "If you dare to win, you dare to loose". The quote tells us that if we are dare to face the challenge, we are dare to take the risk along the way. 

  Thank you heroes for your sweat, tears and sacrifices that you made throughout your three-week journey in Rio, Brazil. You inspire the younger generation of today to never give up and move forward You guys deserve a good long rest. Malaysia Boleh! Once again, welcome home! Selamat pulang je tanah air (Welcome back to the home soil).