Olympian Noraseela Khalid welcomes Malaysia’s move to reconnect with German athletics

Noraseela Khalid nearly missed the chance to compete in the 2008 Olympics as she contemplated giving up her athletics career in 2003.

However, a decision to send her and several other athletes to train in Germany breathed new life into her career, helping her set a 400m hurdles record of 56.02s in Regensburg, Germany, on June 17, 2006 – a record that still stands.

Thus, she is excited to learn that National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Jefri Ngadirin had discussions about sending Malaysian athletes to train in Germany.

“I cherish my time training in Germany as it made me a better athlete and person,” said Noraseela, who speaks fluent German and completed a sports psychology course in Germany.

“I’m sad that the partnership and cooperation between the two countries didn’t continue, but I’m hoping it will be rekindled.”

Besides Noraseela, other Malaysian athletes who benefited from training in Germany in the early 2000s were Moh Siew Wei, Malik Tobias and Zaiful Zainal Abidin. High jumper Nauraj Singh had set up base in Germany before retiring in 2023.

Noraseela said training in Germany under Idriss Gonschinska revitalised her career.

“I first broke the national record in 1999, but after several more record-breaking years, I felt my career had stagnated. I was considering giving up athletics due to a lack of support,” said Noraseela, who went on to compete in the 2012 London Olympics.

“The opportunity to train in Germany with Idriss was a turning point. In three months, I lowered my national record from 58.77s to 56.90s. Imagine how much faster I could have run if I had gone there sooner.

“I trained under Idriss for four years. He made me a better hurdler, and I went on to compete at the 2012 London Olympics.”

Although proud that her time remains in the record books, it doesn’t bring Noraseela any joy.

“It is a shame that no one has come close to breaking my record. I’m still the only Malaysian woman to run the 400m hurdles in under a minute,” said Noraseela, who recently reunited with Gonschinska, now the chief executive officer of the German Athletics Association (DLV).

Gonschinska was in Malaysia with a 50-strong German contingent that trained at Alice Smith International School in Kuala Lumpur for three weeks ahead of last weekend’s World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China – a qualifying event for the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, from Sept 13-21.

The training stint was made possible with the help of Malaysian Athletics vice-president and coaching chairman Datuk Mark Ling.

The team included bronze medal-winning members of the women’s 4x100m relay team from the Paris Olympic Games – Sophia Junk, Lisa Mayer and Rebekka Haase – and the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams, who earned bronze at the European Championships in Rome last year.

“It was great meeting my former coach and other familiar faces from my time in Germany,” said Noraseela, president of the Malaysia Olympians Association.

“I hope to see more Malaysians training in Germany in the coming years and breaking the long-standing records we set when we trained there.”

Besides Noraseela, two other athletics records set by athletes during their training stint in Germany, which have yet to be broken, are Moh Siew Wei’s 100m hurdles time of 13.27s set in 2004 and Malik Tobias’ decathlon mark of 7,095 points in 2003.

“It makes me wonder how much better off Malaysian athletics would have been if we had continued our friendship with the German association,” said Noraseela.

“Hopefully, the office bearers within Malaysian Athletics can work with the relevant authorities to help our athletes rise again.”