KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's middle distance running great R. Subramaniam died today at the age of 83 at Kajang Hospital.
Known as Super Subra, the self-coached athlete, who used to run in between rubber trees, qualified for the 1964 Tokyo and 1968 Mexico Olympics.
Today, Malaysian athletics is way down at Asian level. But in Subramaniam's heyday, he was among the elites in Asia.
At the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok, Super Subra struck silver in both the 800m and 1500m. He also strode his way to seven gold and four silver in five Sea Games.
Athletics followers still fondly talk about Subramaniam's famous 800m victory over Myanmar's much vaunted Jimmy Crampton at the 1971 SEAP Games in Kuala Lumpur.
Amazingly, in less than 30 minutes after the titanic duel with Crampton, Super Subra was running again, this time in the 5,000m and winning the gold, no less.
Subramaniam, who also competed in the 1962 Perth and 1966 Kingston Commonwealth Games, worked as a Prisons director off the track.