Tan Sri Norza Zakaria, President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM), has defended bringing his family members to the 2024 Paris Olympics. He explained that he has a special quota allowing him to bring his own guests to the Summer Olympics.

"As the president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and OCM, I am allocated a quota to bring my own guests," Norza told Malaysiakini after photos of his wife and son at the Olympics, with accreditation cards, went viral over the weekend.

He clarified that this quota is "unrelated to the athletes" and the national team's participation in the event.

The issue arose when netizens pointed out that some athletes had to compete without their coaches or had to self-fund their teams due to a lack of accreditation cards from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). National women's badminton player Goh Jin Wei, who couldn't bring her coach Nova Armada to Paris because of insufficient accreditation cards, was among those affected. As a professional player, Goh is not under BAM's purview and had to rely on Rexy Mainaky, director of coaching at the Malaysian Badminton Academy (ABM), and the assistant to the national men's doubles coach during the games, according to the New Straits Times.

Similarly, Malaysia's men's singles player Lee Zii Jia had to self-fund his entire team after no Team LZJ staff members were included in the list of officials named by OCM. Scoop reported that Zii Jia had previously sought assistance from chef de mission Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin to obtain two additional accreditation cards for his physiotherapist and personal sparring partner.

One netizen remarked that by prioritizing family members of government officials over ensuring athletes are accompanied by their support staff, the country is revealing its misplaced priorities. "And then hoping for gold?" the netizen questioned.