Late But Not Last

EL/FEL

Late but not Last:
An Interview with Mr Canagasabai Kunalan
by Geneieve Tang

What is an interview?
An interview is a formal conversation with a person to ask
questions and get information. The interview could be about
a current event or it could highlight something important the
person has done through the years.

In the following interview, find out about the achievements
of Mr Canagasabai Kunalan, a Singaporean athlete who
has made a great contribution to athletics, specifically in
track and field.

Mr Kunalan as a young athlete

Text © 2010 Curriculum Planning & Development Division, Ministry of Education, Singapore
1

5 Reporter: Good afternoon, sir. Thank you for agreeing
to this interview. First, when did you become
interested in athletics?

Mr Kunalan: I was more serious about it only when I was
in my twenties. As a young boy, I didn’t think
10 that I would become an athlete. I was happy to
explore fruit farms and plantations around my
home. I enjoyed playing games like ‘catching’,
‘police and thief’ and soccer with my friends.

Reporter: How did you know that you could run fast?

15 Mr Kunalan: Some of my friends were quite happy I was in
their team. One moment they would see me and
the next, I would vanish quickly. I had a feeling
I was fast. Moreover, when I went to the fruit
farm near my house to buy fruits in season, I had
20 to brave the dogs by running away faster from
them.

Reporter: When did you run your first individual race?

Mr Kunalan: In secondary school. I was always excited
about Sports Day. But I was never chosen for
25 any event because I was always the smallest
and very skinny. It was in Secondary Three
that my sports housemaster, Mr Retnam, took
pity on me. It was called the Mile Open. That’s
about five rounds of the school track drawn on
30 the field. Anyone could run in that race and he
encouraged me. I came in third. The following
year, I was first.

2

Reporter: When did you begin formal training in athletics?

Mr Kunalan: At first, I didn’t because soccer was my first
35 love. When I was training to be a teacher at the
Teachers’ Training College, I was already 20
years old. I played for the teachers’ soccer team.
Mr Tan Eng Yoon, a PE lecturer and my coach,
told me I was very agile and sometimes ran
40 faster than the ball. He persuaded me to switch
to track and field.

Mr Kunalan in a race

Reporter: Where did you train and how was the training?

Mr Kunalan: I trained at the track in Farrer Park. The track
was made of cinder. On rainy days, I could feel
45 my feet squishing on the muddy track. As I
often ran barefoot, which not many people did,
someone gave me my first pair of spike shoes.

It made a difference. But training was often
after a long day’s work with short breaks. My
50 teammates and I didn’t mind because we felt
encouraged. Our coach saw improvements in us
and he took care of us like his own family.
3

Reporter: Did you feel nervous before a race and how did
you overcome it?

55 Mr Kunalan: Yes, I did feel nervous before a race,
regardless of its importance. To me, every race
is important because so many people have been
responsible for it – from my family, to coach,
to fans, to spectators, to journalists, to my
60 opponents.

I remember my mouth getting dry on several
occasions. Sometimes I won’t have any water to
wet my mouth. When my heart beats very fast,
I take deep breaths and calm myself down a bit
65 or I think of the action I have to take on hearing
the gun.

Reporter: What was it like representing Singapore at the
Olympics?

Mr Kunalan: I was amazed to meet the top athletes of the
70 world. They were so much bigger and their
running times were so much faster. But I was
happy to make it to the quarter finals for
Singapore in the 100-metre race in the 1968
Mexico Olympics.

Mr Kunalan at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics
4

75 Reporter: Which was the most important race to you?

Mr Kunalan: The Asian Games silver in 1966 – it was such
a close race between Jega and me. He won by
0.01 second and the judges took a long time to
make the decision.

80 Reporter: I read about you and Dr Jega being training
partners and friends. How did you feel running
against him?

Mr Kunalan: He said in a newspaper interview that we
shared a very strong rivalry during our
85 competitive days but that we were friends
off the track. I respected Dr Jega and kind of
admired him although he was one year younger
than me. He went to the Rome Olympics
when he was in Secondary Four! I only started
90 competitive running when I was 21. We remain
good friends till this day.

Mr Kunalan and Dr Jega in 2009

5

Reporter: How did it feel when you didn’t win?

Mr Kunalan: Winning in competition is important. But what
do you think about when you are not winning?
95 And what are you thinking about after you have
won? Sportsmanship is about the ‘right’ things
you think about and do before, during and after
the competition.

Reporter: Why did you stop running?

100 Mr Kunalan: I stopped because of my heel injury. I was at the
peak of my career in my late twenties. Although
I was more experienced and knew I could do
even better, I had to pull out. However, I’m glad
I can still teach and coach and encourage young
105 people through my talks in schools.

Reporter: Thank you, Mr Kunalan.

6

Some of Mr Kunalan’s achievements during the seven years, from
age 21 to age 28:
• on 5 Asian Games medals –
W
1 silver and 4 bronzes

• on 15 SEA (Southeast Asian)/SEAP
W
(Southeast Asian Peninsular) Games
medals – 4 golds and the rest silvers
and bronzes

• 1963 – at age 21 and with only four

months of training, competed in 100-
metre, 200-metre and 4 x 100-metre
relay and became the record holder

• 964 – represented Singapore/
1
Malaysia at the 18th Olympics in Mr Kunalan takes gold at the
Tokyo, Japan; ran the 4 x 100-metre 5th SEAP Games at Rangoon
in 1969
relay

• 968 – represented Singapore
1
at the 19th Olympics in
the1968 Mexico Games in
Mexico City, clocking 10.38
seconds in the 100-metre
Quarter-Finals, the national
record for 33 years

• 968, 1969 – won the
1
Sportsman of the Year award
in Singapore

Mr Kunalan awarded Sportsman of the
Year for 1968

7

What Mr Kunalan liked to do in Primary School:

Hobbies:
Reading adventure and history
books and sports news

Favourite activities:
Climbing coconut trees, catching
spiders and guppies, catapulting

Games:
Soccer, rounders and other
running games
Mr Kunalan as a student

What Mr Kunalan does now:

• ssistant Professor at the National Institute of Education in the
A
Physical Education & Sports Science Academic Group, teaching
Exercise Physiology, Fitness and Conditioning and Track and Field.

• ember of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising
M
Committee.

• ecretary, Singapore Olympic
S
Academy and Singapore
Olympians Association.

• ives talks at schools on his
G
experiences to build young
people’s confidence. He also
encourages them to pursue
their talents with passion
and perseverance. Mr Kunalan receiving a teaching award in 2008

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Mr Kunalan for providing all the photographs used.
8

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