I got a great chance to talk to one of the riders from Malaysia a couple of days ago. Josiah Ng was born in the Philippines, lives in L.A. and rides for Malaysia, which I'm not real sure how that works. But it's odd and pretty cool that he can switch from a heavy accent when speaking to his teammates and then switch to English straight out of California.
Anyway, he had just gotten done training on the track, and what started out as only a short interview for a flash quote report ended up being a lengthy interview that hit everything from his thoughts on the velodrome in Beijing (he's in love with it) to his recent marriage proposal. The guy is really interesting and is in his third Olympics. He's hoping to get into London too, so he's not looking at stopping soon, unlike several other riders who are retiring after these Games.
The Malaysian team isn't favored to win any medals, either in the team events or as individuals, but Josiah's exuberence for his team was fun. He wants his team to finish in the top eight as a team, which would mean they must break their own national record. I like athletes that truly enjoy the chase of improvement and will enjoy the Games for more than just the fame from winning a medal.
It isn't a kind of interview that was new to me, as I've done feature stories before, but it was the first time I'd sat down with someone who could literally be called a world class athlete. He was a great interview as he would just keep talking while I would catch up on my notes. Stuff I wasn't even planning on writing about, for instance how amazing he thought the opening ceremonies were and how glad he was that he got to see them this time since he missed them at Athens, he was more than willing to talk about. It's not like we're good friends or anything, because he is an athlete and I am part of the press, but it was really fun to get that interview and get my first story into the news service.
NEW ADDITION: I have been informed by a comment that Josiah has a world championship that my research didn't dig up. I found that Josiah was a fifth place finish in the keirin at Athens, but he also has a world championship in the keirin under his belt from the 2006 world championships. Thanks to mrbullocks for the help.
1 comment:
hey chad, greetings from malaysia. glad u managed to catch josiah.
dont mean to correct you or anything, but he truly is a world-class athlete - keirin world champion in 2005/06.
likewise, was really sad to hear about the stabbing incident as well.
take care
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