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ndonesian sports’ tabloid Bola presented awards to Albert C. Sutanto as Best Coach, swimmer I Gede Siman Sudartawa as Best Male Athlete and long-distance runner Triyaningsih as Best Female Athlete for 2011 in Jakarta, on Saturday.

Siman was also awarded the Athlete with Prospects following his stunning results in the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in November. At the Games, which were held in Palembang, South Sumatra, Siman brought home four gold medals, in the 50m backstroke, the 100m backstroke, the 200m backstroke and the 4x100m medley.

The 17-year-old youngster also broke the SEA Games’ record in the 100m backstroke — with 55.59 seconds — considerably faster than the time of 56.16 seconds that had been set by Malaysian Lim Keng Liat Alex at the 2001 SEA Games in Malaysia. Siman’s relay team went on to double the record breaking by clocking in at 3:41.35, breaking the previous record time of 3:41.72 set by the Indonesian team in the 2009 Laos SEA Games.

“I’m really happy to receive such an acknowledgement. It shows that Indonesia has good swimmers and also athletes from other sports, besides popular soccer players,” Siman told reporters after receiving the award.

“Up next, I’m aiming to gain my personal best time in the upcoming Olympics and grab more medals in the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar,” he added.

Siman’s coach, Albert, said that more people had become aware of his presence after his recent successes at the SEA Games. “It automatically motivates me more to work hard.”

“My collaboration with all the swimmers went really well, resulting in our gaining the achievements.

“Especially for Siman, he was only ranked number three nationwide in 2010, but he caused a real stir in last year’s SEA Games. Initially, Siman was predicted to shine in the 2013 Games,” said former national swimmer Albert, who collected nine gold medals himself in SEA Games’ competitions between 1991 and 2005.

The Favorite Athlete award went to the national soccer team player Andik Vermansah, Best Patron awards were presented to Alex Noerdin and Hendardji Soepandji, while the Lifetime Achievement award went to the former Indonesian Sports Council (KONI) chairman, Agum Gumelar.