"The arrangements were very poor" - K Subramaniam, who won 4 gold medals at 86, speaks about his Asian Masters experience and journey in sports
Tamil Nadu's K Subramaniam, an 86-year-old athlete, won four gold medals at the recently concluded Asian Masters Athletic Meet held in the Philippines. Fondly known as Subbu, Subramaniam participated in the 85-plus category, winning gold in the long jump, high jump, triple jump and javelin throw.
Subramaniam is someone who breathes sports, athletics in particular, and has been in the field in some form or the other for decades. He is an apt example for the adage: "Age is just a number."
We at Sportskeeda were keen to know more about this stalwart, and in an exclusive interview he opened up about his experience at the Asian Masters, his journey as an athlete, the challenges he faced in his career, and much more.
Q: How do you feel about your achievements at the Asian Masters?
K. Subramaniam: I feel it's a great achievement. In the last Asian Championship held in Malaysia 2019, I won four medals, but only one gold, two bronze, and one silver. But here, I participated in four events and won gold in all of them, so that's a great achievement.
Q: You participated in 4 events: Long Jump, High Jump, Triple Jump, and the Javelin Throw. Out of these 4, which one was the most challenging event for you and why?
K. Subramaniam: I would say it's the high jump. In the high jump, there is always the run-up problem. It also started raining when the high jump started. So, I had a tough time, but I didn't go for my best attempt. Once I knew that I was the gold winner, I stopped jumping. 0.95 was good enough for gold, so I said that's enough.
Q: Athletes are required to focus solely on their game when they go to any event, and ideally the registration, food and logistics should be taken care of. Considering you traveled for this event alone, how was your experience? Did you face any challenges?
K. Subramaniam: Yeah, a lot of challenges. The MAFI, Master Athletics Federation of India, arranged everything for us. The only thing we have to do is the payment.
We paid that but the arrangements were very poor. From Manila to our hotel, it took three hours to travel. Then from the stadium to the hotel, we had to travel for one hour, it was very tough.
My event is at seven o'clock, and the reporting time is one hour before the event. So, that means I have to start at 5 o'clock from the hotel, and that's very tough. Even the food arrangements weren't good, and there were a lot of complications in the conduct of the meet. The rules were not followed properly. But, they did their best, that's all. We have to go through all this. No food, no sleep, all that. Tough time.
Q: You've been involved in sports, especially in athletics, from a young age. How did that love for sports start for you? What drew you to athletics?
K. Subramaniam: Nothing special. When I was in sixth grade, I went from elementary school to high school. During lunchtime, I used to see a lot of boys doing high jump. I didn't know that was a high jump. They put the bamboo across and they kept jumping. So after two days, I said I wanted to try it. They said, "Okay go on." Then I started jumping. Even when they failed, I was still jumping.
So they took me to the physical director and said "Sir, he is jumping very well." From that day onwards, they put me on the athletics team. They said you start doing the high jump. So I was only doing the high jump every day. It became like an addiction to me. Every time, I kept jumping higher and higher. Then I went to the district meet, the state meet, and so on.
Q: How do you maintain your fitness at this age? Also, how have you remained in shape all these years?
K. Subramaniam: I have done 12 years in athletics at the national level representing the All India Railways, State, and South Zone. Then I became an athletics coach, so I was training a lot of athletes.
I had the Don Bosco Athletic Club, I was training those athletes, plus the (Integral Coach Factory) ICF athletes. So along with them, I also ran and demonstrated to them how to do jumping and high jumping. So that always kept me fit.
So, even after my actual athletics career, I was fit enough. Then after 70 years, after I retired from ICF, I started training regularly. I go to the ground both in the morning and evening. I do my jumps plus my weight training. I spend the most time on weight training and strengthening, my leg, in particular. Every day at 5.30 I get up, and go for my training. In the same way, I go to training at 5:30 in the evening too.
Q: You have been in sports for a long time. What are some of the challenges that you have faced in your sporting journey?
K. Subramaniam: Yeah, I have faced a lot of challenges. When I was in my first year in the Indian Railways, I was about 20 years old. We were training for the decathlon.
When training for the pole vault event, I was jumping and I fell on the crossbar, which is an aluminum rod. I landed on my leg, and my whole leg was twisted. I was rushed to the hospital, where my leg was set right. There the ortho doctor told me I had to to give up sports. I said, "Okay, I'll see."
After one year, I started training again and won the All India Inter-Railway with my best distance. So I wouldn't give up. Similarly, two years back I had a muscle pull while doing the triple jump in the Masters, but within a week I trained again, came back, and won the National Triple Jump that day. So, there have been a lot of challenges but I still carry on with my sports.
Q: Apart from time as an athlete as well as a coach, you were also a technical official. Could you share something about that part of your career?
K. Subramaniam: I was a technical official and a starter for many national meets. Then, in the 1982 Asian Games, I was an A Grade technical official. My athlete Balasubramaniam won a bronze medal in that Asian Games in the triple jump. We initially recruited him for the high jump, but then I converted him into a triple jumper.
In the first year itself, he broke the Indian Railways record and also the Indian national record. He then asked me: "Sir, I want you at the jumping pit. I will be missing you so come there." I said, okay, and I opted for jumps.
Then, I went to the jumping pit and I was with him. So, every time he was so happy that I was sitting and watching because I was the one who showed the red flag for a foul. So he did his best and he got the bronze medal. So he was very happy with it.
I was also the technical director for the SAF Games when it was held in 1995. Two of my best athletes were Balasubramaniam, who got a bronze medal in the Asian Games in 1982, then PM Rosalie who got a silver medal in the South Asian Games held in Bangladesh. I also produced a lot of national champions like Monica Fernandez, Lata, Karnamma, and many more, so I'm happy with that.
Q: You also had a keen interest in organizing sports tournaments on your own, especially for students. A few words on that?
K. Subramaniam: When I was in charge of the ICF stadium, a lot of schools came to me saying, "Sir, we want to organize a meet, please help us." So, I used to organize everything from oath-taking to the torch relay, lighting the cauldron, and teaching them how to do that. I loved doing that, helping them.
Apart from that I was running a meet for the kids 8, 10, and 12 years old as a Kiddies Meet. Back in those days, we used to hold it in the Don Bosco Club. Later, in memory of my friend, a former long jumper, C Shankaran, I used to run one meet every year at the Nehru stadium (in Chennai).
We taught the children how to do "on your marks, set, and run", all the basics. Everybody was so happy with it, but in the past few years because of COVID-19, I have stopped doing it.
Q: How important has your family support been for you throughout your sporting journey?
K. Subramaniam: It has been great. When I was young and in school, my mom used to take care of me. Every time she tried to put some nourishment in me, whatever possible. In the morning she would wake me up to go to my practice and after that, my wife did the same thing; she used to take care of me and my food, and now my daughter and daughter-in-law take care of me.
In the morning when I get up at 5.30, they come with the tea. They say, take your tea and get ready for your sport. So my family's support is great. My grandson and son are both fitness coaches. So, they watch me and go, "Is your leg paining grandpa? Keep an ice pack." My son also watches my training and, yeah, they take a lot of care.
Q: If you had to give some technical advice to the younger generation of athletes, what would you tell them?
K. Subramaniam: Athletics is different. In other games, you could even practice for one month and come on top. But athletics is one sport for which you have to train 365 days. You have the pre-season, off-season, and the peak season. You have to aim.
If you are going to the Olympics or you are going to the Asian Games, you have to plan. First, you need to focus on strengthening. Then you have to go into the pre-season. Then you come to the peak season. When the event time comes, you have to be in full form. You have to be in top gear. So, I request all the athletes to take care of that. Strengthening is a must.
Q: What's next for you?
K. Subramaniam: Thank you. I'll be going to the World Meet next year. So, I need all your luck. The World Meet is from August 13th to 23rd in Sweden. I have started training now itself. I hope to get a gold in the world meet.
Q: What events will you be taking part in?
K. Subramaniam: The same. High jump, long jump, and triple jump. (Not four?) Only three events. I concentrate only on my jumps. I gave my name for the javelin throw at the Asian Masters only because there was a fourth spot open. Normally, I don't train for the javelin throw. It's only because of my weight training and fitness, I was able to win gold. But training is only for my jumps.