Athlete fought against apartheid
The ex-Amateur
Athletic Association of Natal
recently launched its Historical Legacy Project which
focuses on athletes who were banned from international participation during apartheid. This week, we feature Premseelan Naidoo
ABOVE: With Everad Brookes at an Amateur Athletics Association of Natal Champs at Curries Fountain.
RIGHT: In 1976, at the age of 18 on the UDW track, qualifying for the 800m for the SA Champs held in Boland.
COMPETITING in the Brisbane Marathon in 2013.
PREMSEELAN “Prem” Naidoo was born on November 5, 1957, in Kharwastan in Chatsworth. He matriculated at Westcliff High School in 1974.
Naidoo joined the Department of Posts and Telecommunications in 1978 where he qualified as a technician.
Naidoo was drawn to athletics, particularly the 800m and 1500m races.
He represented the Lions Athletic Club in Chatsworth in 1974 and 1976, and set the Natal junior 800m record in 1 minute 58 seconds at Curries Fountain.
In the mid-1970s, South Africa continued to grapple with apartheid, and athletics provided a platform for Naidoo to challenge this injustice.
Naidoo and his friend, Dickie Naidu, were the first Indian athletes to compete in the whites-only track and field league meeting at Kings Park in 1977. Their goal was to show they were equal to, if not better, than their white counterparts.
Despite training in sub-par facilities and on ash and grass tracks, they emerged triumphant, breaking down racial barriers in the process.
Naidu finished first and Naidoo second in the 800m race.
In 1976, Naidoo competed in the South African Championships in Paarl, finishing second in an 800m event.
He also recorded a time of 1 minute 57 seconds in a senior 800m race at the Amateur Athletics Association of Natal Championships at Curries Fountain.
He was inspired by Steve Prefontaine, an American middle-distance runner who was known for his aggressive racing style.
Naidoo’s hobbies included photography, fishing, travel, hiking, website design, computers, cricket and learning to play the guitar. He harboured an appreciation for music, particularly jazz and rock.
Naidoo left South Africa in 1996 to settle in New Zealand.
He spent eight years working as a contractor for Telstra, an Australian telecommunications company, and received special status as a New Zealand citizen to live in Australia indefinitely.
Today Naidoo lives on the Gold Coast in Queensland.
Hansrajh is the initiator and project lead of the Amateur Athletics Association of Natal. He is also the former president of the association, from 1988 to 1993, and the first president of the unified structure of KwaZulu-Natal Athletics. He is a tribunal member of the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport and an antidoping committee member of Athletics South Africa.
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