Olympians in the RSC Hockey Section – Part 2

In Part 1 of this article, we had featured the following Olympians:

1.       Wilfred Vias (1956 Melbourne Olympics)

2.       Dato Yogeswaran (1964 Tokyo Olympics, 1968 Mexico Olympics)

3.       Dato Poon Fook Loke (1976 Montreal Olympics, 1984 Los Angeles Olympics)

4.       Dato Ow Soon Kooi (1976 Montreal Olympics, 1984 Los Angeles Olympics)

5.       Mohindar Singh (1976 Montreal Olympics)

These hockey players were already competing at the highest level when many of us were not even born yet!

Watching some of these games on YouTube today, we see how gruelling and tough these games were in the days where sports science was not as advanced as it is today, and many of these Olympians’ sacrifices can be seen today in the form of knee injuries or other forms of physical injuries.

But even so, I am sure they will not exchange the experience of being amongst the best athletes in the world for anything else, as they too will be counted as one of the best in their chosen sport.  

Now, in Part 2 of this article, we feature 5 of the ‘younger’ Olympians in our section.

1.       Tam Chew Seng (1984 Los Angeles Olympics)

2.       Colin Sta Maria (1984 Los Angeles Olympics)

3.       Stephen Van Huizen (1984 Los Angeles Olympics)

4.       Anaantha Sambu (1992 Barcelona Olympics)

5.       Muhammad Dhaarma Raj Kanniah (1992 Barcelona Olympics)

Many of these players are still actively playing today, and can still hold their own on the hockey pitch today, whilst some prefer a more relaxed game of golf – either way, they are still good at swinging the stick/club!

1.       Colin Sta Maria

The 1984 LA Olympics saw 5 of our hockey section members featured in the Malaysian hockey team  - Dato Ow Soon Kooi, Dato Poon Fook Loke, Stephen Van Huizen, Tam Chew Seng and the young Colin Sta Maria!

Colin played in the 1984 LA Olympics as a young 25 year old forward in the Malaysian hockey team and was excited as it was his first trip to the United States of America.

Colin with the liaison officials in 1984 LA Olympics 

“There were so many memorable experiences at the Olympics, but I guess it is being in the presence of all the top sportsmen and women from all over the world that blew me away” said Colin, when asked about how he felt being at the Olympics

The 1984 LA Olympics Malaysian Contingent – Can anyone spot Dato Ow, Dato Poon, Stephen, Tam and Colin?

And it was in Los Angeles that Colin also met the great Edwin Moses – “… the 400m hurdles Olympic and world champion! He was the most outstanding 400m hurdler at the time and revolutionized the 400m hurdling technique”.  (Fact check: With his height of 6'2", Moses' trademark technique was to take a consistent 13 steps between each of the hurdles)

“He was well over 6 feet tall” – Colin described Edwin Moses  

1.      Stephen Van Huizen

Colin was not the only one mingling with the various sporting idols that were present at the 1984 LA Olympics!

Stephen Van Huizen also shared the following “At the 1984 Olympics opening ceremony, we had the opportunity to meet a lot of athletes that we only read about – Edwin Moses, Willie Banks, Juergen Hingsten etc, which was very memorable”

At the opening ceremony with Juergen Hingsten - Germany Decathlon (1984), Gustavo Kueren – Brazil Tennis (2000), Gary Payton – USA Basketball (2000), Willie Banks - USA Long Jump (1984)

Encounters with the sporting elite was not limited to the official functions!

“She was so simple and unassuming, and doing her own laundry” said Stephen, when he surprisingly met Monica Seles, the USA tennis superstar in the laundry room of the block which housed both the Malaysian and USA contingents in 1996.

In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Stephen also had the ultimate privilege to meet and take a photo with the greatest-of-all-time Mohammad Ali when he came to the games village.

“It was a great shock as we never would have dreamt of meeting the legendary Ali close up, after seeing him light the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony.”

Williams sisters – Serena and Venus in 2000, and Monica Seles in 1996

And as Chief Coach of the Malaysia Men’s hockey team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he also “coached” the Williams sisters – Serena and Venus, by giving them tips on the collection of pins (including the rare ones) and even gave some pins to them, as they wanted them so badly!

“They were so impressed with the pins on my lanyard around my neck and asked me to exchange pins. I managed to get them to sign a t-shirt and took photos with them too!”

Stephen was also the Assistant Coach in the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Olympics, making it 4 Olympics for him! 

Tam Chew Seng

Emerging from Malacca High, one of the 5 Tam brothers!

Tam Chew Seng played in the 1984 LA Olympics and scored a double against the host nation in the group match. We won the game 4 – 1 vs USA in that game. 

Tam in action, and with Dato Poon after scoring a goal

Known for his quick reflexes for deflections and top-of-D quick snap hits, Tam was also a very hardworking and intelligent player, especially with his ability to press and close down the opponent’s play in their own half. 

Tam (3^rd from the left) with the team waiting for transport back to the Olympic Village

As usual, he played down his involvement in the Olympics and seldom talks of his national hockey and cricket days (yes, he was a double international!).

Today, at 65, he is happy to indulge in golf with friends, putting his natural ability to good use on the fairways instead!

Aanantha Sambu

Sambu is a natural centre forward, who played in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and is still until today, considered to be one of the most skillful players and a deadly striker in the D (provided his knees can hold up!). 

Great time in Barcelona with coach Terry Walsh and the team

“Setting foot in the Olympics itself was a wonderful moment. Not forgetting all the jokes and laughter with my team mates. We were like one big happy family. Great moments indeed!”

Like all the other Olympians before him, many of the best memories of the Olympics were of him meeting the many great athletes at the venue such as Merlene Ottey, Carl Lewis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the American Dream Team. 

Young Sambu with Merlene Ottey and stealing a photo with Carl Lewis

Malaysia ended up in 9th place in the 1992, beating the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) team 4-3 in the 9^th-10^th placing game. Sambu scored in the 68^th minute to seal the win.

Recalling the game - “I still remember the eye signal with Sarjit Singh. Something we learnt from our old hockey. He just pushed the ball to my stick to deflect to Nor Saiful to score. The winning goal was the one that Nor Saiful weaved down the line and push across for me to score. It was joy all around!” 

 Muhammad Dhaarma Raj Abdullah

The youngest of the lot - Dhaarma Raj, took part in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, playing in the heart of the defence at the tender age of 19 under Coach Terry Walsh. But it was not the first time he was in Barcelona, as the team had arranged test matches with Australia and Spain prior to the Olympics to acclimatize to the weather conditions in Spain.

1992 Barcelona Olympics Malaysian Men’s Hockey Team (Photo credit : thevibes.com)

“The Olympic village had an unbelievable atmosphere that leaves a memory that you will not forget. Also, meeting the superstars in the sports world, especially Carl Lewis at the opening ceremony and the USA Basketball Dream team was out of this world”

Dhaarma had to go to the Olympics without his brother, K Embaraj who had injured himself in a freak accident just weeks prior to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Imagine if we had the brothers holding the fort as the last 2 men in defence for Malaysia!  

Team photo with Sambu and Dhaarma before heading for the Opening Ceremony

To all the 10 Hockey Olympians who took the effort to dig out the old photo and generously shared their stories with all of us – THANK YOU! It was indeed enjoyable to ‘listen’ to your journey and experiences as an Olympian. 

The last time the Malaysian hockey team played in the Olympics was the 2000 Sydney Olympics, managed by Dato R.Yogeswaran and Stephen Van Huizen as chief coach.

Dato R.Yogeswaran and Stephen Van Huizen with 2000 Sydney Olympics hockey team

In more recent times, we narrowly missed qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in a nail-biting Asian Games final loss to Japan in extra time played in Jakarta. 

For now, we hope and trust that the new generation of players can again bring us back to glory by qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In the words of Mirnawan Nawawi, current Malaysian hockey team manager and former Malaysian skipper – “You are not a complete player until you play in the Olympics”.