This creative
work is a project that discusses how sports inequality happens among athletes
who come from popular and less-known sports. It is explored through a novel
entitled Amor Vincit Omnia, a novel that mainly revolves around the struggles
experienced by athletes. The novel highlights the disparities experienced by
its characters through the contrasting treatment of Sergio, a football player,
and Shaka, a badminton player. By exploring these disparities through their
intertwined stories and Gianna’s perspective as an outsider who loves them
both, the novel offers a reflective critique of Indonesia's sports institutions
and their failure to provide fair and comprehensive support to all athletes,
regardless of their sport's popularity. Through fictionalized examples in the
novel, the story also reveals the privileges and pressures of being in a
high-profile sport, media attention, elite support, but also invasion of
privacy and political exploitation. The novel aims to serve a response,
reflection, and critique of the government's biased treatment toward different
sports, between popular and lesser-known disciplines, and to contribute to a broader understanding of
the sacrifices and challenges faced by under-recognized athletes. Ultimately,
this novel serves as a reminder that beneath the medals, athletes are also
human beings, that each athletes has its struggles, sacrifices, and dreams.
