“Where Are The Tiger Stripes?” – Malaysia’s 2024 Olympics Attire Fails To Impress
“Where Are The Tiger Stripes?” – Malaysia’s 2024 Olympics Attire Fails To Impress
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The official attire of the Malaysian Contingent bound for the 33rd Olympic Games in Paris 2024 was unveiled yesterday at the Olympics Day 2024 celebration at The Exchange, TRX.
Unfortunately, the reveal did not impress many people due to the uninspired design and poor execution.
The official attires for Malaysian athletes have always been inspired by the Malayan tiger, proudly featuring orange and black stripe patterns. The tiger stripes were supposed to show our athlete’s tiger spirit, power, and courage in the sports arena.
According to the Olympic Council of Malaysia’s Facebook post, the latest design by Yonex Sunrise Malaysia has a black and gold theme with elements of tiger stripes.
However, some felt the entire design was tired and the tiger stripes were sparse. There seemed to be barely any stripes on the long-sleeved top version.
The final nail on the coffin was unveiling the attires on strange-looking mannequins that looked like they were going to topple backwards. Prior to the big reveal, the attires were hidden from view by draping black cloths around the mannequins, lending the mannequins a Death Eater-like look.
People online compared the lacklustre reveal to Thailand’s announcement of their new official Olympic attire.
Thailand had one of its badminton athletes, Sapsiree Taerattanachai, model the new look featuring blue, white, and red colours. The professional photoshoot indirectly conveyed the country’s excitement and energetic vibes to join the Olympic games.
Some people reasoned that the poor design was because Malaysia was trying to save money in this economy.
Meanwhile, someone jokingly wondered whether the team that designed the official athletic wear was trying to raise awareness about our endangered Malayan tigers and showed that through the lack of stripes.
Others believed whoever designed the patterns this year was stuck in the ’90s and blamed the poor execution on the people’s tendency to work at the last minute.
Many urged Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh and the ministry to redesign the official attire so our athletes could stand tall and proud in the international arena.
The “tiger stripes” could have been amazing branding
The poor reveal yesterday once again brings the words of the late Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing to mind.
After seeing variations of the Harimau Malaya attire designs some years ago, Lim allegedly lamented the nation’s failure to use the “tiger stripes” as effective branding.
Unfortunately, the jerseys were accepted but the spirit behind the stripes was not promoted, and we lost an excellent branding opportunity in sports.
The late Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing
Lim allegedly believed the “tiger stripes” pattern could have been taken beyond sports. It could have been used to instil Malaysia’s love for the tiger and the spirit it has.
We could have the tiger promoted among schools to instill love for the tiger so young Malaysians would grow to see it as a symbol of courage and embrace it. It’s a happy idea for parents to say, ‘you should be one of the tigers’. It’s the spirit we want to capture.
The late Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing
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