M.Ramachandran was born on 9th April 1966 in Panchor, Muar. His sons are Murusamy A/L Thiruvengadam and Muniammal A/P Sinnappa Reddy. He is the seventh child out of nine siblings. 

M.Ramachandran received his early education at Kota Raja Panchor Primary School, continued his education at Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah 1 Pagoh Secondary School, and completed his schooling at Maktab Adabi Maharani, Muar.

 

M.Ramachandran made history even before winning any championship, he became the first Malaysian athlete to record a time of under 30 minutes in the 10,000 meter event.

He has been suffering from asthma since childhood and was unable to participate in sports when he was 7-years-old. However, he did not pay attention to the disease and continued to practice hard and eventually the asthma he had suffered from for many years was no longer an issue. 

Ramachandran’s legacy started in 1987 at the national athletics championships, where he won his first gold medal at the national level 5,000m event. Since then, Ramachandran only focused on the 5,000m and 10,000m races until retiring in 2001. 

He was the only national athlete to defend the national title for 15 years for the 5,000m and 10,000m events.

 

Ramachandran was selected to represent Malaysia in a tournament in Bangkok and  won a bronze medal in the tournament. This was his first tournament to represent the country and he clocked a time of 15:06.95. 

Rama’s performance continued to improve  when he became a member of Singapore’s SWIFT athletics club where he won many competitions in Singapore, and it was there that he broke the 15-minute mark in the 5,000m event by clocking in a time of 14:57.55 in the Singapore club inter-club athletics tournament.

 

At the Selangor Open Athletics Championships in 1989, Rama managed to break the national record of the  10,000m event with a time of 30:47.7. At the SEA Games, Ramachandran was only able to win 2 silver medals. He was selected to represent the nation at the ASIA Field and Race Championships in New Delhi, India, where he finished 4th by breaking the national record again with a time of 30:05.95.

Throughout his career, he has represented the nation in seven SEA GAMES, five ASIA Fields and Races, one World championship, one ASIA SPORTS and two Commonwealth sports. 

Ramachandran is the national record holder for the 5,000m and 10,000m events. He also holds the national record for the 5,000m till date. 

In the year 2000, he got married and announced his retirement to make way for young athletes to take his place, yet no athlete has been able to be his successor nationally as well as internationally.

M.Ramachandran is truly a national treasure that needs to be celebrated! Stay tuned with RAAGA to find out more about the legend and his achievements. 

By Thineshkan