Top Of The World: A Chat With Leading Lady Nicol David

NOVEMBER 1ST, 2014

By CINDY YAP
Having personal goals during early childhood is not something many would have given much thought. Datuk
Nicol David, who started her journey towards achieving her ambition at a tender age of five, is one
extraordinary person who knew what she wanted right from the beginning of her illustrious career.

The winner of the World Open title for a record of seven times shares with The Leaderonomics Show that she
was first introduced to squash by her father’s friend, who built the public squash centre in Penang.

“When I was nine to 10 years old I was already travelling around Malaysia for squash
and subsequently, travelling overseas and meeting new friends,” she recalls, adding that
people were also telling her that she was talented and could go somewhere in future.
“All these words encouraged me to step up in order to do this better,” she says, recalling how she had to push
herself further from the moment she set her mind on pursuing squash seriously.

When she first won the World Junior title at 15, it all clicked and she thought, “Maybe someday, I will be a
world champion!” Her dream did come true through sheer hard work, consistency, determination and resilience.
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At 16, Nicol was the champion for both the under-17 and under-19 categories at the 1999 British Junior Open,
champion for the senior and team categories at the South-East Asian Games and champion for the under-19
category at the German Junior Open.

It was a remarkable feat for a 16-year-old whose peers were either occupied with school or social activities.

Her greatest feat that year was becoming the youngest winner of the Women’s World Junior Championships in
Antwerp.

A year later, Nicol entered the professional circuit by joining the Women’s International Squash Players
Association (WISPA) and went on to win her first professional title at the Savcor Finnish Open.

Consistency in training
With intense training day after day and tough moments encountered during competitions, one wonders if Nicol
had down moments where she felt like giving up, and what motivates her to carry on?
“When you put in the effort, waking up in the morning with body aches, and unable to get
out of bed because your body is too stiff and hurting too much; these are the times you
wish you could take one day off from training,” she admits.
At the same time, she knows that the same feeling will recur the next day and cause a disruption in her training
programme. “Before you know it, your programme will not be fully set for what you are training towards and
the preparation will not go on as planned,” Nicol stresses.

Having gone through this feeling before, Nicol knows for a fact that after pushing through that one day when
she does not feel good, she will be so glad she did, and will derive the satisfaction of having persevered till the
end of the day.

“When I’ve trained and followed the programme as hard as I could, I trust that when I go into a competition,
everything will fall into place,” she muses.

She adds, “In the show court where everybody’s cheering for you, you just want to keep doing that all the time
and doing your best to reach that optimal stage of performance.”

“That feeling when you are doing your best – coupled with the focus, the movements and the ‘highs’ you get on
the court and everything coming together – is inexplicable!” Nicol grins.

Losses: a turning point towards success

While Nicol has been known for her winning streaks, there were losses throughout her career which she
remembers vividly.

“One of my biggest losses was at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, where I failed to
retain the gold medal I’d won four years earlier when I was 14 to 15 years old,” she
reveals.
“It was the lowest point of my life and I was really devastated,” she recollects. However, she admits that the
incident gave her the turnaround of what she needed to do next.
Recommended reading: Failure Maketh Man
“I decided to move to Amsterdam to train under my current coach Liz Irving from Australia. She is a former
World No. 2 and World Champion for the Australian team, so she knows exactly what it’s like for me to be the
top of the rankings,” she adds.

Moving to Amsterdam was the turning point in Nicol’s life, both in her personal and professional growth. While
she was there, her routine involved two to four hours of training twice daily, six days a week, and was spent
working on her fitness, speed and her strength.
“The Amsterdam move helped me reflect that I should not just depend on what I can do,
but what I could do with what I have,” she continues.
Nicol was ranked 53rd when she returned to the circuit in 2003, but just within a year, she was among the
world’s top 10.

From then on, there was no turning back for Nicol. In 2005, she became the first Malaysian to win the British
Open and the first Asian to wear the women’s crown when she beat long-time rival Australian Natalie Grinham.
Her string of historic wins continued when she became the first Malaysian to win the women’s CIMB
Malaysian Open in 31 years.

The year 2005 closed with a bang when she became the youngest world champion by winning the Hong Kong
World Open, placing her at No. 1 in the world rankings.

“That was no doubt the happiest point of my life, because my dream of being a champion had turned into
reality!” she gushes.

Although squash, like in many other sports, exists in a male-dominated world where the attention is
predominantly on the men, Nicol claims that in recent years the women are getting more support and coverage.
Besides that, the quality of the women’s game has grown by leaps and bounds.

“We get a lot of feedback from spectators saying how intense the women’s game is and how they really enjoy
watching us play,” she raves and opines that squash has indeed gone a long way from where it used to be.

“So we are definitely on par with the men and it’s great to hear people finally appreciating women’s
participation in sports and squash,” says Nicol.

With the US Open offering equal prize money for both men and women since last year, Nicol points out that the
bar for tournaments in America has been raised. She also expresses her hope to see the World Series events step
up their mark to put both men and women on equal footing.

Be the master of your own environment

During the build up to the 2004 Athens Olympics, Nicol was given the honour of carrying the Olympic torch for
Malaysia. She was also appointed the UNDP National Goodwill Ambassador for Malaysia.

Nicol was also WISPA Player of the Year for six consecutive years (2005 until 2010).

In June 2008, she was honoured with the Order of Merit (darjah bakti), an award bestowed upon 10 recipients
who have made significant contributions in arts, science and the humanities.
In July of the same year, Nicol became the youngest person ever to be conferred a Datukship in Malaysia when
she received the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri award from her home state of Penang.

Despite the numerous honours and accolades received, she endears herself to her fans both at home and abroad
with her humility and sportsmanship.

Nicol attributes her success and her down-to-earth nature to the love, support and appreciation showered by her
family, friends and teachers, who provided her the right environment towards her pursuit of her passion.

“They really gave me the ground to fall back on wherever I was, and provided me the
love that I always carry with me and would like to share with others,” she says.
She stresses on the importance of surrounding oneself with good people who will also give the support and
guidance needed to achieve and excel.

“It’s up to you to create the environment yourself and make the effort, and not only just expecting the
environment to fall into place,” she emphasises.

“I have always been fortunate that I have the right people around,” she beams.

For someone who does sports for a living instead of de-stressing, what is her outlet to release stress?

“That’s a good point actually! I told friends at the squash club that they are there to release stress, but I’m here
for what I do, which I love doing!” she quips.

This energiser bunny (as she is fondly called due to her incredible speed and agility) reveals that she street
dances and doodles on her sketch pad during her free time.

“While drawing, I do not think of anything I want to do and let the picture follow,” Nicol adds.

Development of athletes at grassroots level

Admitting that there is a timeline for all squash players, she plans to keep going in competitive squash for
another four to five more years if her body is still in shape and she is injury-free.

After retiring, she would like to set up a squash academy in Malaysia to develop and nurture good athletes from
the grassroots.

In line with her passion for drawing, she also wishes to have her own product design company.

“Or who knows if I can collect enough art pieces or sculptures, I may have my own gallery!” she enthuses.
When asked to complete the sentence “A woman has actually made it…”, Nicol concludes, “… if she has the
love and passion towards their fullest reach of their potential.”

For the full interview and other Leaderonomics Show interviews, find us on YouTube at leaderonomicsmedia

Lim Lay Hsuan

Lay Hsuan is the content curator for Leaderonomics.com. She writes occasionally and is the caretaker for Leaderonomics social
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By SAIFUL AFFENDY SAPRAN - September 3, 2017 @ 7:56pm

KUALA LUMPUR: National women’s singles head coach Tey Seu Bock wants his players to take after national No 1 Datuk
Lee Chong Wei in various aspects, especially in terms of having the determination and mental strength of a champion.
The former men’s singles coach said even though Chong Wei is in the twilight of his career at 35 years old, the former World
No 1 is still able to perform at the highest level.
“The level of confidence and self-belief of our players is what we need to work on improving for our women’s players.
“The question is if Chong Wei can do it then why can’t the others do it too? Actually there is nothing that can’t be done or
achieved.
“Our players need to have positive thinking. There’s no need to compare our players to those from other countries as we have
our very own role model to look up to in Chong Wei,” he said.
Despite being satisfied with the performances and achievements of our country’s women’s singles shuttlers such as Goh Jin
Wei who won gold at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games (KL2017), Seu Bock is adamant his charges’ mental strength is not
at par with that of the world’s top players, and he plans on working on this so that they can better their performance and fulfill
their potential of being world beaters.
Meanwhile, apart from Jin Wei, Seu Bock is also satisfied with Soniia Cheah, who lost in the Sea Games women’s singles final
to Jin Wei.
“Her performance has improved compared to before, but from my observations she still has some way to go to reach her peak,
and I feel she lost to Jin Wei because she wasn’t mentally strong enough,” he said.
Translated from Harian Metro
AZIZULHASNI Awang is, barring a bandaged right arm, as fit and ready as he could be for his bid to create history
in the London Olympics. Only lacerations on the arm remain from the training accident he suffered last week and
team manager Datuk Naim Mohamed said the 2010 Asian Games keirin gold medallist has a confident look about
him. "We all know that the Olympics are not easy but self-confidence is very crucial and I am happy to say that
Azizul has this in abundance," said Naim at the Games Village yesterday. With Malaysia's road challenge, as
expected, fizzling out, all eyes are on Azizul as he has proved that he can match the world's best by winning the
keirin silver at the 2011 World Championships. His performances in the World Cup have also been inspiring but
that was all before he suffered the horrific injury last when a wood pierced his calf. That virtually ended his 2011
season but Naim said Azizul has forgotten that injury and even last week's crash didn't affect him. "We were
afraid that the crash would not only hamper his training but also have a psychological effect on him but he has
proved that he is not going to allow minor issues from jeopardising his challenge." Naim said coach John Beasley
has started to taper Azizul and Fatehah Mustapha's training as it is a matter of fine-tuning now. "They have
trained hard and now it is all about the competition. Fatehah, too, looks good after initially feeling a little
overwhelmed with the thought of competing in the Olympics." The Malaysian team now await the respective
draws as they will be crucial in deciding the gameplan of the riders. "The draw for an event is normally made a
day before and who Azizul and Fatehah are drawn with will determine what strategy has to be employed. Azizul,
however, doesn't have to worry about drawing the big guns in the first round as his ranking is high," added Naim.
The keirin, Azizul's targeted event, has 18 riders who will be split into three groups in the first round. The top
two from each heat will advance to the semi-finals while the remaining 12 will be involved in two repechages to
determine the next six. The top three for each of the two semi-final heats will advance to the final with the
losing six going for the 7-12 playoffs. Fatehah will be first in action as the women's keirin is on Friday while
Azizul's campaign will start with the sprint on Saturday, an event which will be contested over three days. "There
are some who feel that Azizul shouldn't take the sprint seriously but Britain's Chris Hoy participated in three
events in the Beijing Games and won all three. This is a decision which Azizul and Beasley will make." The keirin
will be on Aug 7, with the final scheduled for 12.50am the following day in Malaysia and if he does make the
final, Azizul knows that the whole nation will stay up.

Arguably the most naturally gifted athlete the world has ever seen, Usain St Leo Bolt, created history at
the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio when he achieved the ‘Triple Triple’, three gold medals at three consecutive
Olympic Games. Usain’s journey to worldwide stardom started at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing where
he won the 100m, 200m and 4x100m, all in world record times. He followed this up with three gold medals in
the same events at the 2012 Olympic Games in London to write his name in the history books as the world’s
fastest man. Then one day before his 30th birthday he completed the same triple at the 2016 Olympic Games in
Rio to cement his legacy as a legend in world sport.
 In addition to his nine Olympic Games gold medals Usain won eleven World T&F Championships
titles. He completed the 100m, 200m and 4x100m sweeps at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, 2013
World Championships in Moscow and 2015 World Championships in Beijing. He won the 200m and 4x100m
at the World Championships in Daegu in 2011.
Usain currently holds the world records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m with times of 9.58 secs, 19.19
secs and 36.84 secs. His first world record was in the 100m in 2008 when he posted a time of 9.72 secs in New
York. He lowered it to 9.69 secs at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and then to 9.58 secs at the 2009 World
Championships in Berlin. He holds the three fastest times ever run 9.28, 9.64 and 9.69. Also in 2008 in Beijing
he set a new 200m world record taking 0.02 off Michael Johnson’s previous mark with a time of 19.30 secs. He
lowered this time further to 19.19 secs in Berlin in 2009, a time which may stand for years to come. On the
world all-time list Usain holds five of the top ten times ever in the 200m. As part of the Jamaican 4x100m team
Usain broke three world records – 37.10 secs in Beijing in 2008, 37.04 secs in Daegu in 2011 and 36.84 in
London in 2012. Jamaican teams with Usain have the seven fastest 4x100m times in history.
While the world celebrates this precocious talent, this was a dream waiting to happen and not just an overnight
sensation.
As early as age 14, young Usain was opening eyes with his lightning speed from regional
championships in western Jamaica to national meets set in Kingston to meets in the wider Caribbean.
Usain’s ascent to the pinnacle of world sprinting started with the most unlikely of events as his first medal at
any meet came in the 80 hurdles in Class Three at Western Champs held on the campus of his Alma Mater
William Knibb Memorial High in Martha Brae, Trelawny when he ‘jumped’ his way to a bronze medal.
Because he towered above his peers even then, Bolt was also entered in the high jump event and was a
promising fast bowler in cricket before been encouraged to channel his energies on the track.
By 2001 Bolt became a known commodity and he sent signals that he would be a world beater in early 2002
when he cruised to a hand timed 20.3 seconds to win the 200m at Western Champs finals at Catherine Hall.
Later that year he went on to win the 200m/400m double at CARIFTA Trials before winning four gold medals
at the meet held in Nassau, Bahamas.
He announced his arrival to the wider global audience in July 2002 when at the IAAF World Junior T&F
Championships in Kingston in front of the biggest crowd ever to watch these meets, he won the host nation’s
only individual gold medal, winning the 200m in 20.61 seconds. He left that meet with three medals including
two silver medals in the relays, anchoring the 4x100m team and was part of the 4x400m team as well.
That was the start of a meteoric climb to the top that also saw him winning two IAAF Rising Star awards.
It was not always smooth sailing however as injuries slowed him down at several junctures of his career.
Soon after breaking the Word Junior Record in the 200m with a time of 19.93 seconds at the CARIFTA Games
in Hamilton, Bermuda in 2004, Bolt was slowed by a troublesome hamstring injury. He qualified for the final
of the 200m at the 2005 IAAF World T&F Championships in Helsinki, Finland but in cold and wet weather
pulled up before the finish holding his hamstring.
He missed what turned out to be a ‘Jamaican party’ at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia in
2006 when he suffered another hamstring injury while running a leg of the 4x400m relay for the IAAF High
performance Centre’s team at the Gibson Relays in Kingston. Jamaican athletes swept all the sprint events at
the meet, despite his absence.
Fortunately, he recovered well enough later that year to set a personal best of 19.88 secs in the 200m and place
second in the 200m at the IAAF World Cup of Athletics in Stuttgart, Germany.
2007 was the breakthrough year in that he broke the 30 year old Jamaican 200m Record, held by the great
Donald Quarrie, with a time of 19.75 secs to win the Jamaican Senior T&F Championships. He went to the
2007 IAAF World T&F Championships in Osaka, Japan in good form and won two silver medals in the 200m
and 4x 100m relay.
2008 was Usain’s breakout year when he rewrote the history books and became one of the biggest sports
stats on the planet. Since then he has gone from strength to strength with his heroic achievements in the
Olympic Games in Beijing, London and Rio and in the IAAF World T&F Championships in Berlin, Daegu,
Moscow & Beijing.
Usain has been awarded the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year on four occasions (2009, 2010, 2013
& 2017); the IAAF Male Athlete of the Year six times (2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016) as well as many
awards in many countries in all corners of the world. He has his own clothing line in conjunction with Puma;
his own watch made by Hublot; his own restaurant ‘Tracks & Records’ in Kingston, Jamaica; his own shaving
company Champion Shave, his own insoles company Enertor; the ‘Usain Bolt Foundation’ and endorses some
of the top brands in the world