Cover story: Farah Ann Hadi on making it to the Olympics

In 2016, Farah Ann Hadi felt that her world had come crashing down. The national gymnast had failed in her bid to qualify for the Rio Olympics by a mere 0.1 margin. That’s basically just a “foot out of place.” “That shattered my heart and I felt that my 20 years of training just went out the window,” she confessed in a previous interview with Prestige. “I cried every day for two weeks.”

After years of dealing with disappointments and setbacks, Farah Ann then realigned her goals, took the time she needed and kept her sights on the prize. In October last year, things paid off when she became the first Malaysian artistic woman gymnast to qualify for the Olympics in 20 years, and only the third Malaysian gymnast to make it to the Olympics. A feat surely for someone who began the sport as a “difficult” child who needed to release pent-up energy.

“It’s all her determination, perseverance, hard work and never-say-die attitude that got her to where she is right now,” national artistic gymnastics coach Ng Shu Wai was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times. “I was there when Farah Ann missed out on the 2016 Rio Games by a small margin and how disappointed she was.”

It was overwhelming, she admits, recalling the moment when it was revealed that she had finally made it. “There was happiness but it was also very humbling,” she says. “After all the disappointments I had, I finally achieved my dreams. For a few hours, I really didn’t know how to feel. I was crying and happy at the same time.” The realisation only hit a couple of days later when in the solitude of her room, her sister walked in and said, “you did it.”

While the “real work” begins now with the Tokyo Olympics imminent, the athlete says that much of the anxiety she felt early on has been allayed. The Olympics, she explains, is something that she had dreamt of her entire life. Not making it would have meant having to reassess all she had sacrificed in the past. “Before that it was very much—what if I didn’t make it, what then?” she says. “But now there’s confidence. It is also pushing me. I am enjoying the training because it is about getting better.” 

Qualifying was the “hard part” but now the objective is to perform the best she can. Hence, the training is about honing her skills and to put it simply, ensuring that she does well. “It is about being the best while performing at the highest level.”
But the Olympics isn’t just about the competition, Farah Ann is set on ensuring that she absorbs the entire experience. “It is fun to know that I will be able to go and compete with these athletes and to be in the village where they train,” she explains. “To know that for everyone there, it is a lifelong dream.”  

It is also perhaps about connecting with similar others who understand just what it took to get there. Everyone would have worked hard to achieve that, she says. For her, it has been a path that began at just five. Prone to throwing intense tantrums, Farah Ann’s parents began looking for ways to deal with the problem. They tried many “outlets” but the young girl found solace in gymnastics. “I was able to channel my energy there,” she recalls.
By the time she was six, she was already competing and at eight, training six days a week. Early on she developed a competitive spirit. At 10, she participated in her first Malaysia Schools Sports Council (MSSM) competition. En route to the competition, she remembers asking her mother what she would have to do in order to win. Her mother, like most parents, advised her to just do her best. The young Farah Ann, even as a child, thought, “what’s the point then.”

“I always wanted to do my best,” she stresses. “Gymnastics is a sport where you learn a lot of things so for a child, it is very exciting. I fell in love with it.” She is appreciative that her parents played an integral part in giving her the opportunity to find her passion. But she also acknowledges that it was not without cost. There were trainings, competitions and as a result, her parents had to make many sacrifices. “It is very much a team effort,” she says of her accomplishments. “You need hard work, passion, love and a lot of help from parents and coaches.”

Her parents, she adds, made the right decision by using sport as a means to deal with her hyperactivity and it is something that she urges other parents to allow their children to do. “It was an outlet where I could be safe and let out all that energy,” she says. To parents, she adds, “allow your children to explore. I did a lot of things but I found my passion.”

A lifelong quest has been achieved. Now that the Olympic dream has been accomplished, what’s next for the future Olympian? “I want to take some time off,” she laughs. “It took me eight years just to qualify. I plan to do some traveling. I have been wanting to do that.”

This story first appeared in Prestige Malaysia ‘s February 2020 issue

Photographer Kim Mun @ Hopscotch Studio
Art Direction Ibnu Aswan
Stylist Nigel Lee
Make-up artist Cat Yong
Hair artist Bibian Leong