Our forgotten sports heroes
With Malaysia again hosting the SEA Games after 16 years, it is a shame that our sports heroes of the past are not given due recognition and rewards for their contributions.
Media consultant M. Veera Pandiyan likes this observation by Albert Einstein: Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
WHEN I last saw him five years ago, the former Olympian was a sprightly 66-year-old driving a taxi. Today, he uses a walking frame to move about but remains a true champion in spirit.
Ng Joo Pong suffered a stroke two years ago which ravaged his body and further weakened his legs, which were already broken twice – in 1998 and in 2005.
No, the incidents did not happen while he was cycling, his favourite sport.
He fell while jogging in the first accident and slipped on the floor of a wet market in the second.
Joe, as he is known to friends, represented the country in the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and Mexico Olympics in 1968 and won numerous gold medals, including in the 1966 Asian Games long distance event.
But despite his limited mobility, Joo Pong still oozes passion for the sport.
I met him last Saturday while he was with his 71-year-old cycling rival and friend, Hector Conrad Talalla.
Over cups of Chinese tea in Petaling Jaya Old Town, we chatted about the SEA Games, scheduled to be held next month.
They recalled the time when they brought glory to the nation by winning two gold medals in the Asian Cycling Championship in 1963 – in the 1,600m Team Time Trial and the 4,000m Team Pursuit events.
The national cycling team then comprised Joo Pong, Conrad, Jalalludin Yusof, Aw Wai Meng, Shaharuddin Jaafar, Hamzah Ahmad, Stephen Lim, Ahmad Jaafar, N.A. Rosli and Andrew Michael.
Joo Pong, Conrad, Jalalludin, Hamzah and Andrew won gold and just when they thought they had achieved beyond their expectations, Conrad, Wai Meng, Ahmad and Rosli also grabbed the gold for the Team Pursuit race.
It was a thrilling day indeed, because Conrad, Stephen and Shaharuddin had earlier won bronze medals for the 4,800m, 1,600m and 800m races, respectively. The next day Conrad clinched another bronze.
It was the first time that a Malaysian athlete won two gold and two bronze medals in a single Asian-level championship.
Last week, 19-year-old sprinter Khairul Hafiz Jantan broke the oldest record in Malaysian athletics – the 20.92 seconds set by Tan Sri Dr M. Jegathesan for 200m in the semi-finals of the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.
Khairul clocked 20.90 seconds to break the 49-year-old record at the Malaysian Open Athletics Championships at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
But Conrad’s record of winning two golds and two bronzes stands till today.
What makes the feat even more amazing is that Joo Pong and Conrad were just 16-year-old schoolboys then.
And like other sports heroes of the era, they did this with no financial help from any national or state level organisation, the Government, private companies, rich individuals or the schools they studied in.
Joo Pong started out with a Chinamade bicycle he won from his school for selling the highest number of Christmas raffle tickets, and later made his own racing bike from a discarded frame.
His father supported his fervour for cycling, but only on the condition that the boy also helped with the family business after school.
Conrad’s father, on the other hand, was dead set against it, describing it as a waste of time and money.
His parents gave him no support, except for food, which on some days was just a plate of rice with tomato ketchup or fried anchovies.
He scavenged for scrap iron to sell and raise money to buy his first racing bicycle.
Despite the difficulties, these two “greatest of rivals” excelled because of their focus, discipline and the sacrifices they made to develop their mental and physical strength for the sport.
When they were called up for centralised training, there were no special allowances, food or accommodation. The only thing they had for free was water to quench their thirst.
They had their share of horrific training injuries, too.
The bespectacled Conrad crashed while training in Jalan Universiti in Petaling Jaya in 1964. His forehead was cut open and glass fragments from his spectacles were imbedded under his right eye.
The accident happened on a day when doctors at the Universiti Hospital were overwhelmed with too many patients, but the story of the young cyclist waiting to be treated made it to a local paper.
Joo Pong, who used to train by racing behind a lorry, slammed into the back of the truck when its engine failed suddenly. He broke his jaw, lost his teeth and injured his back.
But after three weeks in hospital, he was back on the road, training for the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
Between them, they won numerous awards and medals, but Conrad’s cycling career was cut short after he qualified for the Olympics but was unable to go.
Except for Joo Pong and Conrad, all other members of the national cycling team referred to as the “Golden Squad” have now passed on.
During our chat, I asked them how they felt about the rewards given to successful sportsmen and sportswomen today.
“It is good, but please spare a thought for the older athletes who did so much with so little. Not just in cycling but for all other sports,” said Joo Pong, whose hospital bill after his stroke was paid by Yayasan Kebajikan Atlet Kebangsaan.
Conrad said it was sad to be forgotten heroes.
“Our achievements were never really recognised. We can only appeal to the Government to help us in our twilight years with some sort of sports pension to help tide us over to the end,” he added.
Given the huge amount of money being spent on sports, theirs is but a paltry request.
If we do not care for those who earned glory for Malaysia in the past, we cannot expect future generations to remember or honour today’s sports heroes.
Along the watchtower M. Veera Pandiyan newsdesk@thestar.com.my