On a high and going higher

BASKETBALL’S loss is athletics’ gain as Lee Hup Wei never looked back after picking the high jump over the sport he loves most.

Hup Wei, 21, had hoped to excel at basketball during his secondary school days but realised his physique was more suited to the high jump after taking a stab at the event when he was in Form Three.

The athlete from Dengkil, who admires greatly China’s basketball superstar Yao Ming, has no regrets over his decision.

“I liked basketball but never really got anywhere in the sport. I did not even make the cut for the school team and one day I decided to try the high jump and my teachers thought I was good enough to represent the school,” said the former student of SMK Dengkil, Selangor.

Hup Wei went on to win the Sepang District Schools Championships in 2002 and it was not long before he came to national attention.

That he did when he obliterated the Malaysian Sports Schools Championships high jump record in 2005 when he cleared 2.15m to beat the previous record by a staggering 11 centimetres in Penang.

If that was not enough proof of his potential, Hup Wei established himself as the country’s top high jumper when he cleared 2.20m four months later at the Malaysian Institutes of Higher Learning Games.

Hup Wei did not restrict himself to the high jump as he also excelled in the horizontal jumps but to a lesser extent in his formative years.

But the long jump and triple jump events were soon history as he progressed to ever greater heights in the high jump.

“I liked the high jump better and decided to just focus on one event. I knew if I was able to improve on my technique I would be able to go far,” said Hup Wei, the third of four siblings.

Hup Wei’s sudden emergence gave rise to hopes that he would be able to continue Malaysia’s long domination of the high jump at the Sea Games in Manila later in 2005 after the retirement of Loo Kum Zee.

But the heavy expectation placed on his young shoulders proved too much of a burden as he failed to finish among the medals.

Hup Wei’s progress seemingly hit a roadblock in 2006 as he struggled to clear 2.15m leading to only a ninth place finish in his Asian Games debut in Doha.The National Sports Council, not wanting to see his immense potential go to waste, roped in a Cuban coach specialising in the high jump in March 2007 to help Hup Wei.

Antonio Iznagar Ibar set about analysing the high jumper’s technique and began a programme that almost immediately began to pay dividends.

Hup Wei cleared 2.19m in the Kazakhstan Open just three months later before stunning a high quality field at the Asian Track and Field Championships in Amman, Jordan to win the gold medal.

Not only did Hup Wei end a 16-year gold medal drought for Malaysia at the championships, he also equalled Kum Zee’s national record of 2.24m with his feat.

Hup Wei then ended 2007 on a high by regaining the high jump gold at the Sea Games in Korat, Thailand.

“I was struggling until I started training under Antonio, who improved upon my technique. He helped me a lot as I would not have reached the Olympics otherwise,” said Hup Wei.

Iznagar Ibar could not stay long enough to enjoy the fruits of his labour, however, when he had to return to Cuba for health reasons.

But he did leave a detailed training programme for Hup Wei, who landed his Olympic berth by clearing 2.27m at the China Open in May while simultaneously securing the national record for himself.

Now under the temporary tutelage of former Sea Games high jump champion Lou Cwee Peng, Hup Wei plans on continuing his improvement at the Beijing Games.

“I’ve reached the Olympics but I’m not going to stop there. I want to qualify for the final but that would mean I will have to clear 2.30m which I believe I am capable of doing,” said a determined Hup Wei.

Given his track record, there is no stopping Hup Wei from scaling even greater heights.


NST