Jakarta: Indonesia’s 1992 Barcelona Olympics women’s singles gold medalist, Susi Susanti said that the Indonesian national hero, Raden Adjeng Kartini, who was a pioneer in the area of education for girls and women’s rights in Indonesia, gave her a lot of courage to pursue her dreams to win the Olympic gold.
Through Kartini’s courage and struggle, as she overcame oppression to bring gender equality by protesting against forced marriages at a young age and by breaking the Dutch colonial patriarchal system.
“Kartini has inspired me. Right now, we can choose any profession and we can achieve anything we want just like men,” said Susanti.
“As a woman, I always wanted to excel in badminton,” added Susanti.
During her time, being an outstanding female badminton player was not easy. It took a lot of hard work and struggles, although at the end she was able to achieve truly remarkable results in badminton.
Susi Susanti won the 1992 Olympic title after successfully defeating South Korean women’s singles player, Bang Soo Hyun, with the score of 5-11, 11-5, and 11-3.
“Thankfully I was able to win an Olympic gold medal for Indonesia in 1992. It was the first time badminton became an Olympic sport, and I was proud to see our Indonesian flag being raised in front of the whole world,” explained Susanti.
Susanti felt grateful that as of right now, Indonesian women have begun to fill many positions on all fronts.
“We saw that Indonesia was once led by a woman, Mrs. Megawati, and now the Speaker of the DPR is held by Mrs. Puan Maharani.”
“For this reason, I invite women to fully utilize their talents and education to achieve success in their life.”
Susi Susanti and her boyfriend at that time, Alan Budikusuma, both won the women’s singles and men’s singles gold medals at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
