(Bekasi) At 23 years old, Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi, will try this summer in Paris, alongside her comrade Rahmad Adi Mulyono, to climb the Olympic peaks in the speed climbing event where the Indonesians made a spectacular entrance by seizing the world record.
“As (the test) gets closer, I don’t want to think about anything else. I am only focusing on the Olympic Games,” the young woman confided to AFP.
At the foot of the 15-meter-high climbing wall, set up behind a hotel outside Jakarta, her forehead dripping with sweat and breathing labored, she has just completed another training session.
With her, Rahmad Adi Mulyono, also 23, also won his ticket to the Paris Olympics and other Indonesian climbers could still join them.
In recent years, the Southeast Asian archipelago has become an unexpected powerhouse in speed climbing, breaking records and winning multiple medals on the world stage.
Having entered the Olympic program at the Tokyo Games in 2021, climbing is invited for the second time to the Olympic Games, in Paris, with the combined bouldering/difficulty and speed events (August 5-10).
If Indonesian climbers excel in this short and explosive format, it is because their small stature increases their speed and agility, according to some analysts, while others cite their tireless involvement and teamwork.
“If we had continued to complain about our lack of height, we would never have been able to perform,” Indonesian national climbing coach Hendra Basir told AFP. “So we focus on our advantage, our small size and our agility.”
Desak has been climbing since childhood and is now committed to her Olympic dream after winning gold in the women’s speed event at the World Climbing Championships in Switzerland last year.
Rahmad Adi Mulyono qualified after winning a qualifying match against another Indonesian.
“At first, of course, I felt guilty, but over time, I said to myself ‘nothing to lose’,” he confides.
To claim Olympic gold that Indonesia has only won eight times, always in badminton, Indonesian climbers have been training hard for years.
“We have been through a very long process since 2019, since qualifying for the Tokyo Games, not to mention the break (due to COVID-19),” adds Hendra.
The two climbers can still be joined in Paris by former world record holder, Veddriq Leonardo. The first man to have gone below the mythical five-second mark, but dispossessed of his record in April by the American Samuel Watson, Veddriq will try to win a ticket during a tournament in Hungary at the end of the month.
If they attract curiosity, the wall specialists still lack recognition in this vast archipelago of 270 million inhabitants which is primarily passionate about football and badminton, the only sport to have brought Olympic gold, with a first title in 1992 in Barcelona. Indonesia’s very first Olympic medal, in silver, dates back to 1988 in Seoul thanks to women’s archery.
Climbing, which lacks infrastructure in the country, nevertheless wants to believe in a golden destiny.
“God willing, there is a glimmer of hope for the Indonesian team to win gold at the Olympics, but the path to get there has been incredibly difficult,” admits coach Hendra.
“Of course, we hope that the speed escalation can bring a nice surprise,” the president of the Indonesian National Olympic Committee, Raja Sapta Oktohari, told AFP.
“We have a world champion. I hope that at the Paris-2024 Games, Indonesian athletes will be able to achieve a feat and write a new page in history,” he added, referring to Desak, crowned last year in Bern (Switzerland). ), ahead of the American Emma Hunt and the Polish Aleksandra Miroslaw.
If for men the title will be complicated to achieve, Veddriq’s world speed record (4.90 sec) having been beaten twice in April by the American Samuel Watson (4.798 sec), Desaq remains optimistic.
“I hope my dream of hearing the Indonesia Raya (national anthem) played at the Olympics will come true,” she adds. “My dream is to win a gold medal… and be the first woman capable of going under 6 seconds.”
