“A golden day for Indonesian sports,” exulted The Jakarta Post.
On August 8, Veddriq Leonardo won a gold medal for speed sport climbing at the Paris Olympics with a 4.75-second clamber up an indoor wall. The medal held special significance for Indonesia as the first gold from a sport other than badminton. The same day, weightlifter Rizki Juniansyah claimed a second gold medal, setting a world record in the men’s 73-kilogram category.
The Summer Olympics were a breakthrough of sorts for Indonesia. The team won three medals and ended the Games in 39th place, the country’s best showing since the Barcelona Olympics of 1992. More significantly, the gold medals in climbing and weightlifting meant that Indonesia had moved beyond its traditional dependence on badminton.
In a post on X, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo wrote that the Paris Olympics had brought “new pride to Indonesia.”
Indonesia’s game plan going into the Games was to prioritize medals in events where the athletes had an edge. In March, the chair of the National Sports Committee of Indonesia indicated that medal prospects hinged on success in “flagship” sports like badminton, weightlifting, and rock climbing. The team won medals in all three sports with Gregoria Mariska Tunjung collecting a badminton bronze.
The highlight was undoubtedly Veddriq’s vertical sprint. Speed climbing was introduced as a standalone sport for the first time at the Paris Olympics and Indonesia was a strong medal contender going into the Games. Veddriq had won the IFSC (International Federation of Sport Climbing) World Cup in the Speed category three years in a row and had placed first at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai.
The 27-year-old climber from West Kalimantan spoke about the popularity of the low-budget sport after winning the qualifiers. “Speed climbing doesn’t need a lot of big facilities and it is very easy to set up,” said Veddriq.
The Indonesian speed climbing team is a tight-knit group. “We are like brothers, we always train together. That’s the key,” said Kiromal Katibin, a silver medalist at the 2022 IFSC World Cup in Seoul, where Indonesia won the top three spots in the men’s speed event.
After the Games, Jokowi announced that the two gold medalists would each receive a bonus of 6 billion rupiah (about $381,000). According to one report, Indonesia ranks high on the list of countries offering monetary incentives to Olympic medalists. Only Hong Kong and Singapore hand out bigger checks.
Jokowi is the team’s biggest cheerleader. In a pep talk before the ceremonial send-off at the steps of the Merdeka Palace, he advised the 29-member contingent to “prepare yourselves well, both physically and mentally.” He also reminded the athletes, “You all know what the people of Indonesia want – they want to see the Red and White flag to be raised and hear Indonesia Raya to be played at the Olympic arena.”
The gold medals will help bolster Indonesia’s bid to host the 2036 Summer Olympics. In Paris, the contingent’s leader said, “Indonesia has the infrastructure, the ambition, and the willingness to do it.” Nusantara, the new capital city, is the proposed venue and a formal inauguration of the site will take place later this week.
The rollout of the $29 billion project in East Kalimantan, however, has been far from smooth. City authorities have reportedly struggled to deliver basics such as a reliable water supply and a functioning airport. “The place is simply unprepared,” an Indonesian political analyst told the South China Morning Post.
Nusantara may not be ready for prime time just yet, but the Indonesian team is on track to achieve a significant milestone at the next Olympics. With an overall total of 40 Olympic medals to its name, Indonesia is well-positioned to overtake Thailand (41 medals) as Southeast Asia’s dominant sports power.