From accidental runner to darling of track and field.

Rajamani had no interest in athletics at first – but grew to be darling of the track

MY journey as a sprinter started when I was a child playing cops and robbers in a field across my house in Kampar, Perak.

I would play all kinds of games with my friends and the one we played most was chasing each other around the field.

Running and playing barefoot for hours was sort of like undergoing athletics training.

When I was in Standard Four, I was selected to be the anchor in the 4x100m. I was a bit intimidated because I had to compete against a girl who was older and taller than me. She was a good sprinter and I wasn’t given much of a chance.

But when the race started we were neck and neck and I eventually won. That was a real eye-opener and it proved that nothing is impossible.

I kept on running while in secondary school when my family moved to Ipoh.

In Form One, there was a trial for the relay team but I wasn’t really interested because I didn’t want to become an athlete.

But when the headmistress approached me, it was hard to say no because the students feared her. She was very strict but a caring person.

Anyway, I won by quite a huge margin and was immediately snapped up by the coach.

But once I finished secondary school, I stopped running and cultivated a new hobby – sleeping. I just loved to sleep.

I will wake up in the morning and do household chores and then I would go back to sleep until my dad comes home for lunch.

When he returns from the office at 5pm, I would still be sleeping until one day he couldn’t take it anymore.

He took me to a sprint coach, R. Supayah, and told him he didn’t want to see me from 4pm to 6.30pm. That was in 1964.

Initially I wasn’t keen but once I accepted the fact that I had to attend training everyday, I told myself that I would give it my best shot. And the training was enjoyable.

We would sometimes run across a river near a mining pool, go uphill and also make our way along a lorry track. It was fun because it took us away from the stadium tracks.

For weight training our coach would borrow whatever equipment he can get from his friends. As there was no indoor gym, we would train under the shade of a coconut tree.

And I didn’t have the best of running equipment. I was still wearing the same spikes from Form One.

When some parts of the shoes were worn out, my dad would take it to the cobbler to get it re-patched. We’ll change the spikes and if it’s loose, we would just place a ring around it to make sure it was tight.

It was tough then but our determination was strong. And within six months of hard work I qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.

When I reached Tokyo I was not afraid to run in the world’s most prestigious event.

I told myself that I would do my best as I didn’t really aim for the sky.

I just wanted the experience to better myself in regional sports like the South-East Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games, now known as the SEA Games.

I only made the 200m heats in Tokyo but the Olympics was a stepping stone that inspired me to scale greater heights.

In 1965, I enrolled in a teacher’s training course where I would find myself with little or no time at all for training.

Whatever spare time I had was spent on long runs but two months before the SEAP Games in December, I stepped up during centralised training.

I took part in four events – 200m, 400m, 800m and 4x100m – it was very taxing because I had to take part in the heats of each event leading to the finals within four days.

Since it was held at the Merdeka Stadium, my father came down from Ipoh.

I told myself this is the time to make him proud and do my best for the country. And little did I know I would go on to win four gold medals and set new records in all the events.

Due to the feat, I won the inaugural National Sportswoman of the Year award in 1966.

Later that same year I went to the Bangkok Asian Games where we won bronze in the 4x100m and I won gold in the 400m in a new Games record which stood for the next two Games.

I then went back to Bangkok for the 1967 SEAP Games and won a silver in the 200m and gold medals in the 400m, 800m and 4x100m.

In 1968, while training for the Mexico Olympics, I was struck by lightning and was semi-conscious for 18 hours and lost my memory for five days.

When I finally got back to training, lightning struck again – this time at a nearby tree.

That was one of the incidents that made me decide to hang up my spikes.

I was up for my third National Sportswoman award when the votes were tied. I was told they would give it to the other athlete since I had already won it twice.

I was disappointed so I decided to retire. My wish is that former athletes will not be forgotten as they have sacrificed so much to bring honour to the country.

I also hope that current athletes appreciate the privilege of representing Malaysia. – As narrated to JOASH EE DE SILVA