Female Athletes Have Donated 17 Olympic Medals For Indonesia

Susi Susanti presented Indonesia's first gold medal at the Olympics (doc. BWF).

JAKARTA A total of 17 female athletes have contributed in the history of Indonesia's participation in the Olympics.

The medals were obtained from three sports, namely weightlifting, badminton, and archery. In detail, three gold medals, eight silver medals, and six bronze medals.

Indonesia first sent delegates to the world's most popular event at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics in Finland.

Maram Sudarmodjo (athletics), Habib Suharko (swimming), and Ging Hwie Thio (weightlifting) were the first three Indonesian athletes to participate in the 1952 Olympics.

Since then, Indonesia has always taken an active role by regularly sending contingents. However, Merah-White had to wait 36 years to stand on the Olympic podium, in Seoul in 1988 to be precise.

At that time, Indonesia brought home a silver medal presented by archery (sports) in the women's team number. The first Indonesian and only medals at that time were pocketed by Nurfitriyana Saiman, Kusuma Wardhani, and Lilies Handayani.

In addition to making history by contributing the first medal for Indonesia, the medals collected by female athletes at the Olympics also amounted to almost half of the total 37 medals that Indonesia had obtained.

Four years later, still in Barcelona 1992, female athletes won their second medal. This time, Indonesia brought home the first gold medal through Susi Susanti from the badminton sport in the women's singles number.

Two additional medals from female athletes occurred four years later in Atlanta 1996, all of which came from badminton. Susi brought home a bronze medal and Mila Audina brought home silver.

At the time the Olympics took place in Sydney in 2000, the medals from female athletes increased to four. The two sports that contributed at that time were badminton and weightlifting.

Raema Lisa Rumbewas (silver), Sri Indriyani (bung), and Winarni Binti Slamet (bunggu) from weightlifting. Meanwhile, East Minarti won a silver medal in mixed team badminton with her partner Tri Kusharjanto.

At the 2004 Olympics in Athens and 2008 in Beijing, Raema Lisa Rumbewas continued to maintain the medal tradition of female athletes. She got a silver medal in Athens. Later, she brought home a bronze medal in Beijing.

Two other female athletes who also won medals in Beijing were badminton athlete Maria Kristin Yulianti (beacher) and Liliyana Natsir (silver).

In 2012 when the Olympics took place in London, England, female athletes again contributed to Indonesia. At that time, one piece of silver medal was brought home by weightlifter, Citra Febrianti.

The second gold medal from female athletes was then obtained four years later at the 2016 Rio Olympics. At that time, Liliyana Natsir was covered in a gold medal after winning with Tontowi Ahmad in the badminton mixed doubles.

In that year's edition, the silver medal for Indonesia was obtained by Sri Wahyuni Agustiani. Sri finished second in weightlifting number 48 kilograms.

In the last edition in Tokyo 2020, female athletes won two more medals. Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu in the badminton women's doubles won a gold medal. Then, weightlifter, Windy Cantika Aisyah, managed to secure a bronze medal.