In the 1960s, when Singapore was economically galloping, a young sprinter named Canagasabai Kunalan (better known as C Kunalan) emerged to become one of Singapore’s most decorated athletes.
He is most famous for setting the 100 metres national record of 10.38 seconds during the 1968 Mexico Olympics, which stood for 33 years.
Though known for his blistering pace, the 81-year-old has always lived his life like a marathon.
A late bloomer in athletics, he started off as a primary school teacher. Now, he is still patient and spontaneous, and keeps running.
Read on for more about the life of one of Singapore’s greatest athletes from his interview with Vintage Radio SG, a digital radio station available online and via mobile app.
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C Kunalan: "I came in first without any training"
Credit: Vintage Radio SG
Kunalan grew up in a big house in Johor with a father working as a medical officer. After the Japanese occupation, his father left Johor for Singapore and operated a clinic inside a brewery compound.
Kunalan has three sisters, the eldest of whom was adopted by his father. The family stayed in Alexandra Road and Kunalan attended Pasir Panjang English School for primary education.
Whenever there were afternoon classes, he would go to school early with a group of boys and play football before the bell rang.
In secondary school, before one Sports Day, Kunalan felt like running for his house and so went down for the running trial. The house master put him into the opening event called “One Mile Open”.
Without any training, he clinched the third place and, one year later, moved up to the first place.
It was his first step towards becoming a professional runner, even though nobody, not even himself, paid special attention to it.
C Kunalan: "I hope he has forgotten about me"
The result of Kunalan’s O Levels was not good enough for him to continue his studies. His father sent him to a night school and, after graduation, he started to teach the Malay and Indian soldiers at Gillman Barracks.
At that time, he had nothing much to do during the day so he played football up to three times a day. He and a few other Indian boys even joined together and formed the Indian Youth Football Team.
But that did not lead Kunalan to an athletic career, either. He became a teacher by chance and was posted to Tiong Bahru Primary School.
One of his colleagues saw him playing football with his students and invited him to run for the relay race at Teacher’s Training College.
This colleague also talked to the coach of the teacher’s training team at that time – sprinter and Olympics participant Tan Eng Yoon – who then invited Kunalan to attend athletics training at Farrer Park.
Looking back, Kunalan described this episode as the “turning point” of his life.
However, finding it hard to believe that he could be a professional sprinter, he never showed up for training until he bumped into Eng Yoon six months later.
Even though Kunalan did not even know what the word “potential” meant, the way it was spoken and Eng Yoon’s subsequent visits to Tiong Bahru Primary School swayed his mind. On the ninth visit, he finally made up his mind to join the training.
Under Eng Yoon’s guidance, Kunalan went on to earn five Asian Games and fifteen Southeast Asian Peninsular Games medals. He also represented Malaysia for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and Singapore for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, during the latter of which he set a 100-metre national record that stood for 33 years.
C Kunalan: "Love really made things work at that time"
Kunalan found his sporting half, former sprinter Chong Yoong Yin, during the training of the Swift Athletes Association.
Yoong Yin was a Raffles Girls’ School sprinting champion and top three in national competitions. The two didn’t sprint into love – instead, their friendship steadily developed into a relationship.
Credit: Vintage Radio SG
They tied the knot in the 1960s, defying the social norm against mixed-race marriages, and raised three daughters – all of whom appeared in the sports scene at certain points in time.
Their second daughter, Mona, followed her parents’ path and represented Singapore in four SEA Games in the ’90s.
When asked about his retirement plans, Kunalan, who retired from Sports Singapore in 2022, said that he wanted to spend more time with his wife.
Sports will remain crucial to his life, and he will continue living his days patiently and consistently, taking each lap as it comes.
This content was originally aired on Vintage Radio. To listen to the complete podcast, click here.
