At the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games ever since 2011, 29-year-old Hendro Yap, has always been Indonesia’s backbone in racewalking. He has grabbed four gold medals and one silver.
By
Adrian Fajriansyah
·5 minutes read
At the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games ever since 2011, 29-year-old Hendro Yap, has always been Indonesia’s backbone in racewalking. He has grabbed four gold medals and one silver. Behind Hendro’s athletic success story, however, lies a life full of obstacles.
Hendro is the second of five children of Yap Soen Peng and his wife Melati. He was born with the name Yap Kim Lung. Because he and his family would often suffer discriminatory treatment, Yap Kim Lung\'s name was changed to Hendro Yap when he was 4 years old. "If I hadn\'t changed my name, I couldn\'t have gone to school," Hendro said after winning gold in the 20-kilometer walk at the SEA Games 2019 in the Clark, the Philippines, on Monday (9/12/2019).
When he moved to Bogor and studied from elementary to high school, he still frequently heard unpleasant remarks about him and other residents of Chinese descent. "In fact, my parents and I were born and raised in Indonesia, but there are still people who think we are different," he said.
However, Hendro is not a figure that can easily be defeated. Instead of returning the discriminatory treatment he received, he tried to prove himself a useful citizen of the nation, choosing the path of sport. "If I can fly the red and white flag on the international stage, everyone will see with their own eyes that I am Indonesian. They will not look at my ethnicity or religion," he said.
Hard struggle
When he began his career as a racewalker in 2009, he did not want to be half-hearted. He fought hard so as to enter the national training camp. He even fought beyond his limits, sustaining a severe knee injury as he fell into a hole on a sloping track during the national training selection for the 2009 SEA Games in Laos.
The incident left his right knee swollen and numb. The doctor said he would have to undergo surgery and would not recover 100 percent. The doctor put the odds of Hendro being able to practice again after the operation at 20 percent. Once again, Hendro did not give up. He decided not to undergo surgery and only do therapy. Later, when he entered the national training center in 2010, the medical team found that Hendro\'s injury was getting worse and the strongest ligament in his knee, the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), had broken completely. Therefore, his right knee could shift forward and backward.
Hendro had to rely mostly on his left leg. Later, his right knee also suffered from calcification. "However, the pain was not to be lamented. Just enjoy everything. When I feel sick, it is a sign that my ability is going to increase."
Chicken pox
Hendro truly knows a thing or two about struggling through hardship. When he entered the national training center, he still displayed a fighting spirit to achieve the best performance. This was seen when he appeared for the first time at the SEA Games in 2011. Ten days before the event, he contracted chickenpox. The doctor said, he needed a month to recover. However, Hendro tried to recover faster. He did not recover 100 percent until the race. His body was in fever and itching. However, he was still able to complete the 20-km walking competition and won silver.
At the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines, he also became ill due to the poor quality of food at the athlete\'s home in New Clark City. The morning before the race, he had a fever. However, he was determined to compete. He compensated for his sick condition with an extraordinary struggle. As a result, he won gold.
"Even though I got gold, this was actually the worst race in my career. I raced with a feverish body, my body was staggering, and my legs were unsteady, as if I was not treading the earth. Not to mention the bad venue, as the race was held on a cast concrete road."
Despite facing many obstacles in his life and career as an athlete, Hendro remains the best racewalker in Southeast Asia at present.
Despite facing many obstacles in his life and career as an athlete, Hendro remains the best racewalker in Southeast Asia at present. He set a SEA Games racewalking record of 1 hour 32 minutes 11.27 seconds at the 2017 SEA Games. He also holds the Southeast Asia racewalking record of 1 hour 27 minutes 29 seconds since the 2019 Asian Athletics Championship in Japan. Both records were previously held by Malaysian athlete Harbans Singh Narinde.
"I could achieve all of that because I refused to give up on the situation. I do not want to live in a comfort zone. I truly believe that humans are created to exceed their limits," Hendro said.
Hendro has gotten almost everything he wants in the athletic world. His achievements have earned him recognition. Now, there are hardly any discordant voices about his background. However, Hendro is still not satisfied, because he sees that there are still many people who receive discriminatory treatment because of their ethnicity or religion.
Hendro Yap
Born:Medan, North Sumatra, Oct. 24, 1990
Education:Master of Business Administration (MBA), majoring in Sports Management, Universidad Catolica Antonio de Murcia, Spain
Achievement: Four gold medals from 20-kilometer racewalking at SEA Games (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019), 1 silver at SEA Games 2011 Indonesia.