The first time I heard of Susi
Susanti was when I was in elementary school. She and her husband, Alan
Budikusuma were featured in an article in a Bahasa Indonesia text book. She is
a legend in Indonesia’s sport history as she was the first ever Indonesian to
win an Olympic gold medal! And her husband, Alan, was the second! They both won
medals in Badminton event, Women Single and Men Single disciplines at the
Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics. No wonder, they’re dubbed as the Olympic Gold
couple.
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| image courtesy of Republika |
At that time, I wasn’t interested
in sports. I didn’t even have any idea what badminton was. I became interested
a few years later after a handsome young badminton athlete won a gold medal in
Athena 2014 Summer Olympics, Taufik Hidayat. Since then, I was obsessed with
badminton. I always watched badminton tournaments aired on TV, I read badminton
news, I made some room decorations using Taufik Hidayat’s photos I found on
magazines, I even played the sport with my dad and younger brother, I was
horrible at it though.
Anyway, the success of Susi
Susanti and her life story attracted someone (or some pople?) to make a movie
about her. The movie was called Susi Susanti: Love All.
I watched the movie on the very
first day of screening, October 24, 2019, alone, since none of my close friends
are that interested in badminton. I watched it right after office. My office
hours ended at 4 and the movie was at 5 something. I ran hurriedly to the bus
stop to catch a TJ bus to get to the cinema.
When I got there, I saw a group
of what seemed like badminton players, not the famous ones. They were wearing
jersey of a big badminton club. The cinema hall was quite crowded, thank God I
booked early so I got a good seat. Call me weak or anything, I cried almost
during the whole movie. It’s so heart-touching to see Susi’s and other
athletes’ struggle and sacrifice for the country. I cried so hard when she
answered a reporter’s question whether or not she still considered herself
Indonesian after the 1997 riot. She said, more or less, “No, I don’t consider
myself Indonesian, I AM Indonesian and will always be.”
Fast forward a week later, I found
an Instagram post by Hendra Setiawan, another badminton athlete who has won an
Olympic gold medal, about a chance to watch the movie with him! Apparently, the
movie people held promos to attract more viewers. I immediately texted the
contact person but never got a reply because it turned out they ran out of
quota. I was so sad and I wished I had seen the post earlier. I then decided to
follow the movie’s official Instagram account and turned on the notifications
for new posts. Guess what! A few hours later I saw a new post, a chance to
watch the movie with Jonatan Christie! I didn’t waste a second to text the
contact person. Fortunately, I got a seat! I was super happy!
After I reached home, I directly
ordered a Satoe-Noesa hoodie. Satoe-Noesa is a clothing brand co-founded by
Jonatan Christie. The hoodie was a bit expensive for me, but it’s okay, the
quality of the fabric was good and I love the text written on it: Unity in
Diversity. I also made friends with someone on Instagram who was also going to
the event alone. Her name was Winda.
The following day I came super
early to the cinema. It was in Kota Kasablanka mall, quite far from my place.
When I reached, I went to see the contact person and requested a seat near
Jojo. My seat was 5C, I still keep the ticket hehe. And then, I texted Winda.
She said she already got her ticket, we then met near the ticket booth. When we
were chatting, someone approached us. She was alone too; her name was Fanny.
Since we had so much time before the movie started, we decided to go eat lunch
first.
After buying some crepes, we went
back to the cinema. The movie was about to start, but Jojo hadn’t reached yet.
The committee asked us to get into the hall. Most people went inside, but Fanny,
Winda and I decided to wait until Jojo came. A few minutes passed, the movie
started, but we were still outside. Finally, about 15 minutes after the movies
started, Jojo arrived! I was stunned because he was just like 1 meter away from
me. All this time, I could just see him playing at the court from the tribune.
That was the first time I saw him that close!
He hurriedly got into the hall
with his parents. And you know what, he sat right in front of me! His seat was
4C! I couldn’t concentrate on the film at all. I was constantly looking at him
and I tried hard to resist touching his head :D He watched the movie seriously
and sometimes he discussed 
And just like that, one and a
half hour was over. Jojo went to a room to have an interview while his parents
were waiting at the cinema café. My new friends and I decided to take pictures
with them because taking pictures with Jojo seemed impossible. He was
constantly mobile and guarded by some security officers.
Sometime later, Jojo and his
parents left the cinema. Winda, Fanny and I walked with them to the elevator,
taking pics and videos on the way. For a while, I forgot that I was a fully
grown up adult, not a 15-year-old fan girl :D But it’s okay, it’s so fun being
like that (won't do it often though).
👍
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