By SURESH NAIR
MEETING legendary Asian track and field greats is always a blessing as it brings back overwhelming memories of a yesteryear era when they ruled the tracks in the 1950s and 1960s.
I must admit at the starting blocks that I was in pampers and scampering on my fours when these six legendary sprinting wizards hounded the grass and bitumen tracks at Jalan Besar Stadium and Farrer Park in Singapore and even multiple stadiums in Asean and Asia.
Now they’re in their 70s, some nearing 80s, and over lunch at The M Hotel along Anson Road, as a journalist, I watched in admiration as they gamely exchanged notes and talked about the glorious track era, half-a-century ago, where they ran passionately for national glory and never ever for monetary incentives.
Those were the good ‘ole track and field days when Malaysia’s and Singapore’s fastest track sprinters of the 1950s and 60s blazed the tracks and even ventured to the sprinting blocks at the Olympic Games.
Their elite names just roll off like legends of an extraordinary “Golden Oldies” era: From Asia’s fastest man, Tan Sri Dr Mani Jegathesan, 76, hailed as “The Flying Doctor” who ran the 1960 (Rome), 1964 (Tokyo) and 1968 (Mexico City) Olympic Games; Lieutenant-Colonel (Retired) Kesavan Soon, 80, at 17-year-old, the youngest schoolboy to partake in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games; Singapore Airlines pilot Low Sin Chock who was the 1963 record-holder over 100m (10.8sec) and 200m (21.8sec); Educationist Cedric Monteiro, 81, national sprint record holder in the 1960s; Prisons senior officer Loh Chan Pew, 74, who won a 4x100m relay silver at the 1973 SEAP (South-East Asian Peninsular) Games and business magnate Tang Weng Fei, 65, sprint hurdler, who is now President of Singapore Athletics (SA).
As a 64-year-old journalist listening to the extraordinary lifestyle tales of the six stalwarts, I realised that marathon, as in life, performs best for those who pace themselves. Life and marathons are not sprints. They say get back up on that proverbial horse; what really matters though is that you cross the finish line, even with the horse in tow. In the final context, determination and drive prevail over speed.
DISTINGUISHED SPRINTERS
Much as they’re distinguished sprinters, they had one message in common and kept promoting the idea that you didn’t have to be fast – all you need to do is finish what you start in life, or in a marathon. Indeed, distance isn’t overcome by speed, but rather by determination and drive.
Even after they hung up their spikes, they knew that as much as they had to pursue their professional careers to support their respective families, they also had to give back, and to encourage the younger sporting generation to be world-class athletes by sharing their ideas of a past generation to show that there’s a future in regional track and field.
I was just overawed, if not impressed, by Jegathesan, who blazed the tracks around Asia despite being a doctor. He was an icon in the 1960s, regarded as the “Golden Era” of Malaysian athletics. In his heyday, he was regarded as the “fastest man in Asia”, winning three gold medals at the 1966 Bangkok Asian Games in the 100m, 200m and 4 × 100m relay events.
JEGA: ROLE MODEL
A role-model extraordinaire, he showed that sports and academics can nicely mix with his outstanding career as a renowned doctor and researcher-scientist in medical microbiology, infectious diseases and tropical medicine. The record books show that he remains till today as one of the greatest athletes in the history of Malaysian and Asian sports.
In my opinion, his nickname as the “Flying Doctor” was God-send as his speed, great strides and style on the track was an inspiration to the youths during that time. From childhood, Jegathesan showed the passion for athletics which continued to be an important moving force of his life.
Jegathesan passionately picked the colours of Malaysia even after retirement. A tiger-hearted icon, he served the government health service for 32 years including the posts of Director of the Institute for Medical Research and Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Health, Malaysia.
He was later made Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) Medical Commission and honorary Medical Advisor for the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. He also served as Chairman of the Medical Council, and the Anti-Doping Commission of the Olympic council of Asia with the highest sports post as Deputy President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM). Deservedly, he was decorated with a ‘Tan Sri’ award by the Malaysian government.
I must add that striking among Jegathesan’s traits and one of his great elements of strength is his great sense of humour and soberness. In a nutshell, I’ll say he was a true-blue example of a world-class sports personality, who could manage his excellence in sports while at the same time remain focused in his medical school, which he summarised it into three things.
His trio targets: “One is time management, secondly you should know how to prioritise your activities and thirdly, and most importantly you must learn how to say ‘no’, to distraction and to all that would take you away from your planned priorities. It is easy to say ‘yes’. Off course you won’t be the most popular guy but it is all about how you balance it with moderation. You must learn how to kerb your excesses.”
For the other Olympian, Kesavan Soon, he believes historically, men have had two great chances to prove their mettle: In sports and in battle. After the Melbourne Olympics, he served the country with distinction, for three decades, with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), retiring as a Lieutenant-Colonel (LTC).
During that time, he had his fair share of violent conflict (1963-1966) during the Konfrontasi (Confrontation). And for the next 20 years he diligently served track and field in multiple capacities, with the longest time as a Vice President of the Singapore Amateur Athletics Association (now known as Singapore Athletics). Even in later stages of retirement, as he intends to reflect in his upcoming biography, scheduled to be released early 2020, he continued his long-standing sporting fever in a part-time capacity for the Hong Leong Group for another 25 years!
SPORTS TO UNITE
Soon proudly says: “Sports, in my mind, is the one thing that can unite a nation. An Olympic gold medal not only rewards an athlete’s hard work, just like (swimmer) Joseph Schooling, but naturally a nation, helping not only to pride itself on its talented athletes but to unite in one voice and strive to develop other young talents. An Olympic medal is what dreams of an athlete and nations are made of.”
Soon believes, like Jegathesan, that becoming an Olympian has “given me relief, with pride and passion. I finally have a feeling of ultimate accomplishment in my athletics career…it has also given me hope that I have paved the way for my country and others can follow my footsteps in the future”.
In my books, these distinguished sprinters had one message in common and kept promoting the idea that you didn’t have to be fast – all you need to do is finish what you start in life, or in a marathon.
I take my hats out that even after they hung up their spikes they continued to diligently serve athletics. Most importantly, to encourage the younger generation to be world-class athletes by sharing their ideas of a past generation to show that there’s a future in track and field. – By SURESH NAIR
* Suresh Nair is a Singapore-based journalist and a Member of the AAA Panel of Media, who salutes the track heroes who cherish that life and marathons are not sprints. They have crossed the finish line, with distinction, to show that determination and drive always prevail over speed
