PETALING JAYA: Former national middle-distance runner R. Subramaniam has passed away at the age of 83.

       The former Olympian passed away on Sunday afternoon (Feb 27) in Hospital Kajang. He was brought to the hospital due to chest pain but died after an hour of being warded.

       Former Malaysia Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU) secretary Datuk A. Vaithilingam confirmed the news.

       "He was a legend of the mid-1950s to 60s in middle distance races in athletics. We were all thrilled at the SEAP Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1965 when he beat the then champion of Burma (Jimmy Crampton).

       "He made us proud then. I had known him when he was initially a Selangor athlete.

       I have been several times with him and his family when his daughter was training and organising cultural activities in the early 2000.

       "Just now at about 4pm, I spoke to his daughter Subathira who said that he was quite normal when suddenly this morning, her father said that he was feeling uneasy.

       “He was rushed to hospital in Kajang and he insisted on walking to the emergency unit from the car. She was shocked to learn in a short while that he had passed away."

       Subramaniam, a former Prisons director, qualified for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

       He also competed in the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia and the subsequent one in Kingston, Jamaica.

       During his 10-year career, he won seven gold and six silver medals in the Asian and the SEAP Games.