Indonesia Finally Has 2 Gold Medals At The 2024 Paris Olympics, DPR: Fantastic Achievements

Illustration of the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Wikimedia Commons/Ibex73)

JAKARTA - Commission X of the House of Representatives appreciates Veddriq Leonardo's brilliant achievements from rock climbing (sports) and Rizki Juniansyah, the 73 kg weightlifting man who won a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The brilliant achievements that came from Indonesian athletes at the end of the Paris Olympics have made the nation proud.

"Congratulations and a bravo for Indonesia who won 2 gold medals at the Paris Olympics in the near future, from rock climbing and 73 kg weightlifting sports. This achievement made Indonesia proud," said Member of Commission X DPR RI Andreas Hugo Pareira, Friday 9 August.

"We are again listening to the song Indonesia Raya reverberating at the world competition, and the Red and White flag is raised, very proud," he continued.

According to Andreas, Veddriq and Rizki's performances at the Paris Olympics were stunning. At tense seconds, Veddriq in the final round managed to beat Chinese athlete Wu Peng by only 0.02 seconds. Veddriq managed to win with a time of 4.75 seconds.

No less amazing, Rizki Juniansyah also looked charming. Especially when Rizki managed to record a total lift of 354 kg with details of 155 kg of snatch and 199 kg of clean and jerk.

"Veddriq and Rizki's achievements at the Paris Olympics were fantastic. Both of them also set new world records, and their performance as rock and lifters was very stable," Andreas explained.

Rizki's 199 kg clean and jerk is a new record at the Olympics. He beat the clean and jerk record held by China lifter Shi Zhiyong with a clean and jerk of 198 kg at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Meanwhile, in the quarter-finals, Veddriq has struggled and managed to get rid of the French Bassa Mawem, the owner of the previous Olympic record in Tokyo for 5.45 seconds. Veddriq was able to beat Mawem with a time of 4.88 seconds.

According to Andreas, the achievements made by Veddriq and Rizki have proven that Indonesia has many world-class leading athletes.

"With new records broken by our athletes, Indonesia is increasingly seen in the arena of international sports," he said.

Andreas also highlighted the support provided by the Indonesian people. Not only those in the country, but also the Indonesian people who come to the venue to provide direct support to the Garuda Team.

"Indonesian supporters are also very extraordinary when encouraging our athletes. Even the energy seems to have reached Indonesia, I have goosebumps hearing the screams of Indonesian supporters at the event site while supporting Veddriq and Rizki," said Andreas.

The legislator for the East Nusa Tenggara I electoral district also assessed that the victory of Veddriq and Rizki was not only a personal victory but also a victory for all Indonesian people. Andreas hopes that in the remaining match, Indonesia can win a medal again.

"We hope that in the remaining matches, Indonesia can still win medals again, if it can be gold. But after all, we give our appreciation for the struggle of all Indonesian athletes who compete," he said.

Although the badminton sport which is Indonesia's hope has not succeeded in getting gold, Andreas also assessed that the athletes' performances are very maximal. Especially Gregoria Mariska or Jorji who managed to get a bronze medal for the women's singles number.

"I see that Jorji is also not an easy struggle. Since the preliminary round, his appearance has been extraordinary, he has struggled. So we also appreciate that Jorji's achievements are Indonesia's first medal at the Paris Olympics," Andreas explained.

Not to forget, Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives in charge of sports affairs thanked all teams supporting the Indonesian contingent for the 2024 Paris Olympics, including coaches. Andreas advised all to remain enthusiastic and fight to achieve the best achievements for Indonesia in the international arena.

"Congratulations and thanks to the official team of all sports that are fighting for the good name of Indonesia. And for those who have not won or won, keep the spirit and fight. Get the best possible achievements so that Indonesia Raya will re-verberate and the Red and White flag will fly again on the championship podium," he explained.

Furthermore, Andreas asked the Government to continue to support the progress of Indonesian sports. One of them is by immediately issuing derivative rules or technical implementation of Law Number 11 of 2022 concerning Sport for the optimal development of athletes, especially from priority sports.

This is because the Sports Law has mandated the Great Design of National Sports (DBON) to advance the world of Indonesian sports. In its implementation, DBON becomes a reference in the development of national sports.

Even though the Government has issued Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 86 of 2021 concerning DBON, the Indonesian sports world still needs various supporting facilities for athletes, which requires technical regulations from the Government. Especially for the nursery of athletes from the regional level.

"There must be supporting rules to support that, including the preparation of supporting facilities. We encourage the Government to immediately make derivative rules from the related Sports Law regarding athlete coaching," said Andreas.

With the addition of 2 gold medals, the current position of the Indonesian standings has shot to 28th place from the previous 42nd place. The Garuda team won two golds at the Olympics after 32 years, although none of them were from badminton.

Throughout his participation in the Olympics, Indonesia has collected 10 gold. Eight of them were obtained from the badminton sport where at the 1992 Olympics, Indonesia won 2 gold as well as thanks to the achievements of Alan Budikusuma's men's singles and Susy Susanti's women's singles.