T.C. Yohannan, V. S. Chauhan, Suresh Babu: Remembering the gilded age of Indian athletics

T.C Yohannan.(Teheran,1974)

Quiet streets, verdant surroundings and beautiful parks would be the patent image brought to mind when one thinks of Jamshedpur. But in this very silent town, with its perpetually heaving factories, there once was a group of athletes who are true symbols of grit, determination, unfading mettle and above all, perseverance.

A less-known sports training motto goes, “Train cruelly to meet cruelty”. But perhaps an even lesser known truth is that there was a bunch of eccentric individuals in India, between the early 70s and the late 80s, who comprehended this motto thoroughly, and strove to live by it.

Under the patronage of Telco and its visionary sports promotion scheme, athletes like T. C. Yohannan, V. S. Chauhan, Bahadur Singh Chouhan, Suresh Babu, Gnansekaran, Addile Sumariwalla, Jagraj Singh, Anthony Coutinho, Gurutej Singh and Amar Singh scaled phenomenal heights of excellence. They represented the country at the Olympics, the Asian Games and the Commonwealth games, and put in performances which are now the stuff of legend.

Athletes like Yohannan (the first Asian to cross the 8-metre barrier in long jump), who put in an iconic leap of 8.07 metres at the Tehran Asian Games in 1974, proved to the world that the limits of human strength and endurance as defined by scientific research could very well be defied through disciple and determination. Bahadur Singh, with his graceful putting technique, set two Asian Games records at consecutive meets – Bangkok (1978) and New Delhi (1982).

V. S. Chauhan, in the decathlon, set a new meet record with 7,375 points at the Tehran Asian Games in 1974. And Suresh Babu won a bronze in the 1974 Tehran decathlon and a gold in long jump at the Bangkok Games four years later, thus proving his incredible versatility.

These years were marked by rigorous training and unfailing dedication. The holistic training methods, which combined weight training, various types of running methods such as cross-country, interval, fartlek, hill, sand and wood running, along with plyometric and calisthenics, served as the instrumental force in producing superior results.

Telco, or Tata Motors as it is known now, is the company which nurtured these athletes, and brought out the very best in them. Support in the form of job security, training facilities, sports equipment, travel and food allowances, free accommodation and other incentives provided by the company ensured that these athletes were in the best of health, physically and psychologically, thus enhancing their performance.

One very interesting account, which reflects the encouraging attitude of the company, was narrated to me by my father R. Ramesan, a national gold medalist in high jump in the year 1974 and a part of the team of athletes who were fostered by Telco. He told me, “In 1976, at the Tata Sports Meet held in Bombay, I was watching the pole vault event in action, and, to my utter surprise, J.R.D Tata Sahib, as we affectionately referred to him, called me, and inquired about the performance of the athletes in the ongoing pole vault event. After which, I was asked what the world record was. At that time the world record was 5.70 meters, set by David Roberts of the United States. On realizing that the performance of the national athletes was nowhere close to the world record, J.R.D Tata Sahib, with an inquisitive smile, asked me as to why our athletes were not able to achieve such feats.”

Such was the enthusiastic fervor which was shared by the entire management of the company, to support and promote sports.

These achievements are now immortalized in the annals of history, and to recreate such feats of excellence is only possible through “blood, toil, tears and sweat”, as Winston Churchill once said. Indian athletics has a long way to go, as the competition turns all the more gruesome with each passing day. To be able to match up to global standards is only possible through an insensitivity to the pain and pressure which are involved in modern sports training.