Farah Ann Abdul Hadi

Malaysian former artistic gymnast

Farah Ann Abdul Hadi
Full nameFarah Ann binti Abdul Hadi
Born (1994-05-03) 3 May 1994 (age 29)
Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Height165 cm (5 ft 5 in)[1]
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior
Retired12 March 2022
Medal record
Women's gymnastics
Representing  Malaysia
Southeast Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2015 Singapore Team
Gold medal – first place 2015 Singapore Floor exercise
Gold medal – first place 2017 Kuala Lumpur Team
Gold medal – first place 2017 Kuala Lumpur Floor exercise
Gold medal – first place 2019 Philippines All-around
Gold medal – first place 2019 Philippines Uneven bars
Gold medal – first place 2019 Philippines Floor exercise
Silver medal – second place 2011 Palembang Uneven bars
Silver medal – second place 2015 Singapore All-around
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Singapore Vault
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Singapore Uneven bars
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Singapore Balance beam

Farah Ann binti Abdul Hadi (born 3 May 1994) is a Malaysian former artistic gymnast.[2][3]

Early life

Farah was born in Subang Jaya, Selangor, to a Malaysian father, Abdul Hadi Ahmad and a Canadian mother, Kimberly Ann Gagnon on 3 May 1994. She is the second of three children and her sister, Katrina Ann, is a former national synchronized swimmer.[4][5]

Career

She took up gymnastics at age three and started to compete at the national level competition Sukma Games. Farah Ann made her first appearance at the 2010 Games in New Delhi, scoring 12.050 points (floor exercise), 10.500 (beam) and 10.250 (uneven bars) as Malaysia finished fourth in the team event. In 2014, Farah Ann then took up the bronze in the floor exercise and the team event at the Artistic Celtic Cup-Commonwealth Invitational in Perth, Scotland. Later that year, she finished in 11th place out of 24 gymnasts in the women’s individual all-round finals at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.[6] After the Commonwealth Games, she competed in the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. During the qualification stage, she placed sixth on the vaults (13.650 points), sixth in the uneven bars (12.800), 12th in the balance beam (12.250) and fourth in the floor exercise (13.050). She made it to the finals in the floor exercise, and finished 7th.[7]

In 2015, she competed at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), competing in all events — bars, beam, vaults, floor exercise, individual and team — in the preliminary round of the competition and made it to the finals of all events. She took up her first gold medal in the team event, followed by a second in the floor exercise. She then gained a silver medal each in both the uneven bars, and individual events. The Malaysian gymnast won bronze medals in the vault, balance beam, as well as the uneven bars event, where another Malaysian gymnast Tan Ing Yueh took the gold.[8]

After barely missing Rio 2016, she qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics[9] when she finished 59th out of 180 gymnasts in the qualifying session of the individual all-around event at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. She is only the third Malaysian gymnast to qualify for the Olympics, after Au Li Yen in Sydney 2000 and Ng Shu Wai in Athens 2004.

On 12 March 2022, she announced her retirement from the career through her social media and expressed her appreciation to the people and the opportunity of being in the career which she worked hard in as being described by her as "the people I have met along the way, to all the guidance, love and support, thank you. It has been a ride of a lifetime, giving everything that I have, all my love, passion and dedication".

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Result Ref(s)
2016 Anugerah Pilihan Online Online Choice Female Sports Star Nominated [10]
Ahli Kegemilangan Sukan Selangor None recipients [11]

References

  1. ^ "Athlete Profile: Farah Ann ABDUL HADI - Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games". Gold Coast 2018. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Farah Ann". AsiaTatler.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  3. ^ Marion Fernando (11 April 2018). "Reaching for glory". The Sun (Malaysia). Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  4. ^ "Farah Ann Shares Her Golden Moments, Overcoming Injuries And Setting Her Sights On KL SEA Games". Malaysian Digest. 24 January 2017. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ Lim Teik Huat (15 July 2015). "Katrina quits national synchronised swimming team". The Star. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Farah Ann takes 11th spot in individual all-around finals". The Star. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  7. ^ "Farah qualifies for floor exercise final". The Star. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  8. ^ Liew, Michelle (11 June 2015). "SEA Games: Farah Ann delighted with gold medal". fourthofficial.com. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  9. ^ "ABDUL HADI Farah Ann". Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  10. ^ "APO 2016 Winners". Mstar.com.my. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2016.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ^ "Farah Ann surprised, honoured to receive Selangor award". The Star. 11 December 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2017.

External links