Dato' Datuk (or its variant Dato or Datu) is a Malay honorific title commonly used in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as a traditional title by Minangkabau people in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Use of the title various between locations, in some ...

Muhammad Azizulhasni Awang (born 5 January 1988) is a Malaysian professional track cyclist based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia. Nicknamed "The Pocket Rocketman" due to his small stature, he is the first and only Malaysian cyclist to win a medal at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

. He is also the first Malaysian to have competed in the Olympics five times. Azizulhasni was Team Malaysia's national flag bearer at the 2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations. He won his first World Championship medal in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, a silver medal in the individual sprint. His debut Olympic medal came at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, where he won a bronze in the individual keirin. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he won a silver medal in the same category of individual keirin. In 2017, he won his first World Championship title in the keirin, and became the first Malaysian to ever wear the coveted

rainbow jersey The rainbow jersey is the distinctive cycling jersey, jersey worn by the reigning World Cycling Championship, world champion in a cycling discipline, since 1927. The jersey is predominantly white with five horizontal bands in the Union Cycli ...

. Competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the Men's keirin qualifier, he was disqualified for cycling ahead of the

derny A Derny is a motorized bicycle for motor-paced cycling events such as during six-day and Keirin racing and motor-paced road races. Some riders train behind a derny on the road. The Derny is so-called as it was originally produced by the Fren ...

motorbike used as a pacer before it left the track. National track head coach John Beasley called it a monumental mistake, and said: "The rule is clear and we were more than one length in front and it didn't give me any room to argue about it.

Early life and education

Azizulhasni was born in Dungun,

Terengganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu) is a sultanate and States and federal territories of Malaysia, federal state of Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l-Iman (c ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

to his biological parent Awang Embong and Rokiah Husin. He is the eighth of nine children in his family and was adopted by Mustafa Ngah and Selamiah Yong. Azizul took up cycling at 10 years old, and was later discovered by his first coach Rozimi Omar who had advised him to stop skateboarding and focus on cycling. He was thankful to his late father for giving him a bicycle as a reward after he obtained 4A 1B in his UPSR. Azizul received his primary education at Sekolah Kebangsaan Batu 48 and continued his secondary studies at the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sultan Omar in Dungun. After his PMR examination, he received three offers from MRSM, Science School and the Bukit Jalil Sports School. Ultimately chose to transfer to national sport school in

Bukit Jalil Bukit Jalil is an affluent suburb in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is bounded by the National Sports Complex on the east, the Shah Alam Expressway on the north, city boundaries to the west, and the Puchong–Sungai Besi Highway in addition to cit ...

as his interest in cycling and also due to his ambition to be a physician or an athlete at that time. Azizul moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 2007, settling in

. He had also majored in sports science (Bachelor of Sport Movement) at Victoria University (VU). In 2015, he became the first non-Australian athlete to receive a Blue Award from Victoria University.

Career

Azizulhasni won the gold medal in 2017 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and silver medal in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in keirin. He won the silver medal at the 2009 World Championships in the sprint category and the silver medal at the 2010 World Championships in the keirin category. He was named Malaysian Sportsman of the Year in 2009 and 2010.Azizulhasni Awang
nbcolympics.com In February 2011, Azizul was involved in a crash during the final of the keirin event in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

leg in Manchester where he suffered serious injury when a 20 cm wooden splinter pierced through his leg. He was ruled out of the World Championships that year. At the

2017 Southeast Asian Games The 2017 Southeast Asian Games (), officially known as the 29th Southeast Asian Games, or the 29th SEA Games, and commonly known as Kuala Lumpur 2017, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event that took place from 19 to 30 August 2017 in Kuala ...

Azizul was the 111th gold medal winner, achieving Malaysia's gold medal goal after emerging champion in the men's sprint category at the National Velodrome in Nilai. Azizul was also the flag-bearer for Malaysia at the

alongside diver Cheong Jun Hoong and silat exponent Mohd Al-Jufferi Jamari.

Personal life

Azizul married To' Puan Athiah Ilyana Abd Samat on 30 January 2010. The couple are

Australian permanent resident Australian permanent residents are residents of Australia who hold a permanent visa but are not citizens of Australia. A holder of a permanent visa may remain in Australia indefinitely. A 5-year initial travel facility, which corresponds to t ...

s and live in Melbourne with their four daughters.

Achievements

; Track Cycling World Ranking * 2008/09 – 1st Keirin * 2010/11 – 1st Keirin ;

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

– Sprint *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

– Keirin *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

– Keirin *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

– Keirin *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

– Keirin *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

– Keirin *

– Sprint ;

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

– Keirin *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

– Sprint *

– Team sprint *

– Keirin ;

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

– Team sprint (with Josiah Ng and Mohd Rizal Tisin) *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

– Keirin ;

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

– Keirin *

– Keirin

Awards and achievements

*Sportswriters Association of Malaysia (SAM)-100Plus Best Athlete Award: 2009, 2017

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

* : ** Member of the

Order of the Defender of the Realm The Most Esteemed Order of the Defender of the Realm () is a Malaysian federal award presented for meritorious service to the country. The Order Motto are 'Dipeliharakan Allah-Pangkuan Negara' (By the Grace of God-Defender of the Realm). The o ...

(AMN) (2016) ** Kesatria Mangku Negara

Officer of the

(KMN) (2017) * : ** MY-TER Order of the Crown of Terengganu - Dato Paduka - DPMT

Knight Commander of the

Order of the Crown of Terengganu The Most Distinguished Order of the Crown of Terengganu (Bahasa Melayu: ''Darjah Kebesaran Mahkota Terengganu Yang Amat Mulia'') is an honorific order of the Sultanate of Terengganu. History It was founded by Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin of Terengg ...

(DPMT) – Dato' (2021)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Terengganu Malaysian people of Malay descent Malaysian Muslims Malaysian expatriates in Australia Malaysian male cyclists Malaysian track cyclists UCI Track Cycling World Champions (men) Olympic cyclists for Malaysia Olympic silver medalists for Malaysia Olympic bronze medalists for Malaysia Olympic silver medalists in cycling Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in cycling Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Malaysia Asian Games silver medalists for Malaysia Asian Games bronze medalists for Malaysia Cyclists at the 2010 Asian Games Cyclists at the 2014 Asian Games Cyclists at the 2018 Asian Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Malaysia Cyclists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games SEA Games medalists in cycling SEA Games gold medalists for Malaysia SEA Games silver medalists for Malaysia Competitors at the 2007 SEA Games Competitors at the 2017 SEA Games Victoria University, Melbourne alumni Members of the Order of the Defender of the Realm Officers of the Order of the Defender of the Realm Knights Commander of the Order of the Crown of Terengganu Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Olympic bronze medalists in cycling Cyclists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in cycling

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

Achievements

Awards and achievements

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

See also

References

External links