JAKARTA - General Chair of the Indonesian Olympic Committee (NOC Indonesia) Raja Sapta Oktohari is optimistic that Indonesia will be able to make new history at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Okto said that to make that record, Indonesia needed to actively participate in the qualifications to increase the number of athletes who qualified. An increase in the number of athletes automatically opens up opportunities for Indonesia to win more medals.

"Because the most important thing is to take part in the qualification process so that more athletes qualify. I am quite optimistic that at the Paris Olympics we will make new history," Okto said in a statement received by VOI.

Indonesia was recorded as bringing home the most gold medals at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. At that time, the Red and White team managed to win gold medals through badminton players in the men's singles number Alan Budikusuma and women's singles Susi Susanti.

Since then, the sport of badminton has regularly awarded gold medals for Indonesia. The latest is the women's doubles Apriyani Rahayu / Greysia Polii who got it at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"What I want to make happen is I want to get the most gold medals as long as Indonesia participates in the Olympics. On paper, Indonesia can get two gold. If we can get three gold, that's a new record for us," said Okto.

"We will make new history in obtaining medal results compared to the previous Olympics. This is a golden opportunity, we are pushing for maximum results," he added.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Indonesia is most likely to get a gold medal from another sport. One of them is weightlifting.

Weightlifting currently has reliable young to senior lifters who have the potential to break the wait for gold at the Olympics. One athlete who has a big chance is Rahmat Erwin Abdullah.

Erwin just set a world record in the men's 73kg clean & jerk class at the 2022 Weightlifting World Championships in Colombia. Apart from that, he also proved his achievements when competing in the men's 81kg class at the regional level.

"Sport program for the Paris Olympics also has sport climbing, and our mainstay number, namely speed, is contested. Hopefully surfing can enter, I'm also confident about archery because they prepare themselves very seriously. I think there will be lots of surprises in Paris 2024," said Okto.

Okto also sees a positive trend from team sports for the Olympics going forward. In the team numbers, Indonesia has been able to show a positive trend since the 2019 Manila SEA Games to 2023 Cambodia.

"If this team sport can qualify for the Olympics it will be great. This has been my ambition since becoming the CdM (Chef de Mission) for the 2016 Rio Olympics because Indonesia is a big nation with a population of 234 million, but at that time we sent 28 athletes to the Olympics," said Octo.


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