Warning: graphic content follows
Poet, raconteur, Muslim role model, loving husband and father, survivor, influencer and world-class athlete. Malaysian track cyclist Azizulawang Hasni has taken on iconic status is his home country, gaining fame for a gruesome calf injury suffered in 2011 and earning glory by winning a keirin bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Known as the “Pocket Rocketman”, the 1.69m track star is among the favourites for gold in the men’s keirin in Tokyo and his status in Malaysia is similar to that of Hong Kong’s own keirin specialist Sarah Lee Wai-sze, an Olympic bronze medallist from 2012 who is also going for gold this summer.
The 33-year-old Azizul became his country’s first cycling Olympic medallist when he took bronze in Rio and is his country’s main medal hope in Tokyo.
He maintains a passionate relationship with his followers on social media, opening up his life to his fans, regaling them with stories, offering life advice and at times using his Muslim faith to reach out to his fellow believers. He has more than 380,000 Facebook followers and 47,000 instagram fans.
Biography
Azizul, who was born on January 5, 1988 in Kuala Dungun, Terengganu in Malaysia, started cycling at the age of 10 when his father bought him his first bicycle. He was also an excellent student, scoring four As and a B in Malaysia’s important UPSR exams – an important exam for primary school-leavers that decides streaming for future studies. He had a choice of pursuing a career in medicine or becoming an athlete and decided on the latter.
He is now based in Melbourne and works under Malaysian national coach John Beasley. Azizulhasni will be joined in the Malaysian squad by youngster Shah Firdaus Sahrom, who is seen a potential podium finisher in Tokyo.
Serious injury
While his 2017 World Championship victory in the keirin in Hong Kong and 2016 Olympic bronze provide the highlights of his career so far, his defining moment came in 2011 when he suffered a serious injury during the final of the Manchester World Cup keirin final. A 20cm wooden splinter pierced his left calf, which required surgery to remove.
Azizul says the memories of that February day remain strong but he has chosen to look at it from a positive angle. He took it as a challenge and knew that after hardship would come ease.
“Memories of a 20-centimetre piece of wood that accidentally penetrated through my calf are still fresh,” he wrote in a February 2021 post. “All sorts of stress I went through at that time. Emotions, physical stress at various points in time as I tried to return to the peak performance. The easiest option at the time would have been to put away my bike and find a new direction.
“But I don’t make it a choice for myself. I believe every challenge and obstacle comes with a sweet reward. Ladies, gentlemen, sisters and brothers. I hope you all don’t give up easily on life whatever your job is. You deserve to taste the sweetness that has been earmarked for you. The point is, whether or not we can get through the hardship.”
Earlier this year, he wrote an emotional three-part Facebook post on the sadness that engulfed him, his wife and his daughters when he left their Melbourne base to begin his preparations for the Olympic Games.
“Each of us must have been tested with various tests and challenges in life, right? If we are tested with sadness, we are sad because by knowing the meaning of sadness makes us know the true value of happiness,” he wrote.
“If we are tested with pain, be patient because when we are given good health, we rarely measure it. If we are tested with separation, stay strong because it makes us appreciate more when we are together. And if we are tested with various misfortune that we feel is too big to go through, believe that Allah will not test His servants beyond their own ability.”
