"I Have A Special Quota" — OCM Chief Norza Defends Bringing Family To Olympics
A controversy has erupted after photos of Norza's family at the Paris Olympics went viral.
By Sadho Ram — 06 Aug 2024, 10:40 AM
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UPDATE:
"All Their Expenses Are Paid By Myself" — Norza Clarifies Amid Online Attack On His Family
Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria has defended bringing his family members to the 2024 Paris Olympics
Norza said he has a special quota to bring his own guests to watch the Summer Olympics.
"As the president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and OCM, I am allocated a quota to bring my own guests," he said while speaking to Malaysiakini after photos showing his wife and son watching the Olympics with their accreditation cards went viral over the weekend.
The quota, he said, has "nothing to do with the athletes" and the national team participating in the event.
The presence of his family at the Olympics became an issue after netizens pointed out how some of the players had to compete without their coach or self-fund their own team due to the lack of accreditation cards issued by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
National women's badminton professional player Goh Jin Wei is one such affected athlete. She could not bring her coach Nova Armada to Paris due to insufficient accreditation cards issued by IOC.
However, as a professional badminton player, Goh is not under BAM's purview.
She had to rely on Rexy Mainaky, director of coaching at the Malaysian Badminton Academy (ABM), and the assistant to the national men's doubles coach during the games, reported the New Straits Times.
Similarly, Malaysia's men's singles player Lee Zii Jia had to self-fund his entire team to assist him after no Team LZJ staff names were included in the list of officials named by OCM.
According to Scoop, Zii Jia had earlier sought chef de mission Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin's help in obtaining two additional accreditation cards for his physiotherapist and personal sparring partner.
One of the netizens said that by sending family members of government officials instead of ensuring athletes are accompanied by their support staff to Paris, the country has shown where its priorities lie.
"[And] then [we are] hoping for gold?" the netizen asked.
