Stirring exploits of Malaysia’s pioneer sports personalities of the year

 

M Jegathesan (left) and M Rajamani posing with then deputy prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein after receiving their sportsman and sportswoman of the year awards in 1967. (M Jegathesan pic)

PETALING JAYA: There are legends, and then there are 1960s track phenoms M Jegathesan and M Rajamani who deserve their own category of greatness.

Strictly amateurs, they achieved superiority without the kind of funds, facilities, sponsorship and visibility available to athletes today.

Athletes during the golden age of track and field in Malaysia endured tangled struggles, including taking loans to make trips for overseas competitions, and yet smashed barriers to bring honours to the country.

The essence of their brilliance was that of orthodoxy, an old school purity, a warrior spirit, consistency and incredible talent.

“We ran for the country, not for money, not for ourselves,” said Jegathesan, a triple Olympian, first as a 16-year-old at Rome (1960), then Tokyo (1964) and Mexico (1968).

That rousing message from the fastest man in Asia in 1966 should whip up the courage and confidence of the Malaysian athletes at next week’s Hanoi SEA Games to display unwavering spirit and steadfast sporting ethics.

The 55th anniversary of the national sports awards this year is a good time as any to relive the fairy tale that venerates the maiden winners, Jegathesan and Rajamani, as inspirational.

M Jegathesan (top pic) and M Rajamani provided an inspiring picture of true sporting heroes who defined the excitement of the sport.

When Jegathesan and Rajamani won their titles in 1967 for their feats a year earlier, they were not allowed to take the $5,000 that came with the award due to their amateur status.

“Strict amateur rules then ensured none of us could receive more than US$10, in addition to expenses during an athletics meet, so the prize money went to the national sports council for use in development programmes,” said Jegathesan.

It was only about 15 years later that award winners were allowed to keep their prize money.

Jegathesan said Malaysia’s athletes at the 1964 Olympics had to pay their own way to Tokyo as the government provided no financial support.

He said he stood on a corner of Mountbatten Road (now Jalan Tun Perak) in Kuala Lumpur, selling mini-flags and pins of the Olympic Council of Malaysia.

In Bangkok, Jegathesan became Asia’s fastest man and celebrated his triple gold medals in the 100m (10.5s), 200m (21.5s) and 4×100 (40.6s) draped in a Malaysian flag.

Rajamani did the same after winning the 400m in 56.3s, the first female Malaysian athlete to win gold at the Asian Games.

The story of Mohamed Ariffin Ahmat, the reserve in the 4x100m squad at the Mexico Olympics in 1968, typifies the financial squeeze that athletes faced then.

Ariffin was a member of the team that comprised Jegathesan, G Rajalingam, T Krishnan and Ooi Hock Lim.

When he returned to Malaysia and landed at Subang airport, he had 50 Hong Kong cents in his pocket.

“Our last transit was in Hong Kong where we had a meal leaving me with just 50 cents. If my wife hadn’t come to the airport, I probably would have had to walk home to Gombak,” said Ariffin, a former senior police officer, laughingly.

It was in Mexico that a 24-year-old Jegathesan announced his retirement after making the semi-finals of the 200m in 20.92s – a national record that stood until 2017 – to focus on his medical studies.

A young M Jegathesan looking at the photo finish of the 100m final in the Bangkok Asian Games in 1966 when he pipped Singapore’s C Kunalan and Japanese Hideo Iijima to the tape. (M Jegathesan pic)

“After I had said I was quitting, a Malaysian reporter offered me a cigarette which I took and smoked,” he said. He bought his first pack of cigarettes when he returned to Kuala Lumpur and gave up the habit 20 years later.

At the first national sports awards on July 22, 1967, then deputy prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein told young sportspeople: “You too can be sportsman or sportswoman of the year if you try hard enough, train hard enough.”

Razak, who was also Olympic Council of Malaysia president offered: “Never give up and do not be discouraged by minor setbacks because if there were no failures, there will be no triumphs. The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it.”

The minister of culture, youth and sport then, Senu Abdul Rahman, said Jegathesan and Rajamani represented “the acme of success” and were “the most ideal representatives of sport in spirit and deed.”

After receiving the award at the ceremony, Rajamani, who is from a conservative Ceylon Tamil family, was thrust into the spotlight for a performance in an unfamiliar field – dancing.

“I was petrified as I had never danced or been to a dance hall before. My father never let me go. But to have my first dance with a distinguished statesman was pure joy,” recalled Rajamani.

M Rajamani was a bundle of nerves as she did the joget with then deputy prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein after receiving her award from him. (M Rajamani pic)

A nervy Rajamani was to do the joget with Razak, while a sprightly Jegathesan, brightly familiar with lively beats and fast-paced rhythm, danced with Razak’s wife Rahah Mohamed Noah.

Her trepidation at having to take to the dance floor was a reflection of those conservative times.

In her early running days, her father V Mailvaganam and coach R Suppiah had to fend off snide remarks about a Ceylonese girl running around in shorts.

That girl was to go on to be the first Malaysian Indian woman to become an Olympian, despite the lack of training facilities or money to buy proper running shoes or attire.

She was just incredibly good at something that was incredibly hard.

Consider her achievements: two-time national sportswoman of the year, seven-time SEAP Games gold medallist, the first female Malaysian athlete to win gold at the Asian Games by winning the 400 metres in 56.3s in Bangkok in 1966 and an Olympian within 180 days.

M Jegathesan (right) and M Rajamani, who will both turn 79 in November, remain keen observers of Malaysian athletics.

Coincidentally, Rajamani and Jegathasen were both from Perak and were born a mere 9 days apart in January 1943, Jegathesan in Kuala Kangsar and Rajamani in Tapah.

Jegathesan’s sprint success came in the footsteps of his father N Manikavasagam, who won a 440-yard race in the 1920s when the event was opened to all comers and not merely European competitors. His elder brothers, Balakrishnan and Harichandra, were also national runners in the 1950s.

At one time, Jegathesan held the national record in the 100m, 200m and 400m sprints. He went on to become the first Malaysian to enter an athletics semi-final at the Olympic Games in 1964 and 1968, and a finalist in the 220 yards at the Kingston Commonwealth Games in 1966.

He showed that sports and studies go nicely together, becoming a renowned doctor and researcher-scientist in medical microbiology, infectious diseases and tropical medicine.

Jegathesan and Rajamani were torch-bearers for their sport, and children should be made aware of their stories, as should our future generations. - FMT