Glory Barnabas: 'I ran for passion, not money'

Training on grass and bitumen tracks with no promise of thousands of dollars in prize money, national sprinter Glory Barnabas still blazed a trail winning medals at international meets. She also set longstanding national records. Sheer grit and passion motivated her, as did her faith. Now in her early 70s, she tells Goh Chin Lian how a 1973 speech by then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew gave her and her track teammates an unintended boost at the South-east Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games. They helped Singapore's track and field athletes achieve a gold medal haul at a regional meet that has yet to be surpassed.
The Straits Times, 10 May 2014

What led you to shine in athletics?

As a child, my brothers and I as well as our neighbours would race one another. I was fascinated by the long jump. I made a sand pit in front of my house and would jump into it.

But netball was my first love in my school days at Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' Secondary. I played the centre position, so I could run almost the entire court.

The teachers knew I had the speed and endurance to last the whole game.

We never had specialised physical education teachers. My teachers, Mrs A. Thomas and Mrs C. Poulier, would conduct PE as best as they could; Mrs Thomas in her sari and Mrs Poulier in a long skirt.Occasionally, the teachers sent me for national school competitions. I remember running in the 200m, my favourite, and beating girls from Raffles Girls' Secondary School.


How did you get into the national team in 1962?

I was in the second year at Teachers' Training College (now National Institute of Education). I took the place of a girl who fell ill.

The late Tan Eng Yoon, a lecturer at the college, saw me coming in first with no training. He said: "You must come for training." That's how I got into the nationals.


How was training for athletics then compared with now?

My teachers managed to get the services of Mr T. Kanaga Sabapathy (the art historian and critic), the brother of one of the athletes. He coached us on the rudiments of track running and racing.

We didn't have a proper place to train because our school was rather small. One girl said the principal at her former Playfair Primary School would allow us to use its 300m grass track.

Only when I entered teaching did I train at Farrer Park, which had a bitumen track. It was hard, like running in a carpark.

The National Stadium, which opened in 1973, had a synthetic track. It gave us the bounce to do better timings.

Then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew opened the stadium in July 1973, two months before the SEAP Games were held there.

Mr Lee said they were not interested in medals. They built the stadium so that more people would take sport as a lifelong pursuit.

We, the athletes, were so angry. We were going for medals. The girls were all worked up: "We must show him!"

At the Games, we won six gold medals in athletics alone, including from myself (200m and 4x100m), Heather Merican (100m and 200m hurdles) and Eng Chiew Guay (100m and 4x100m).

(Gan Bee Wah and Sheila Fernando were also in the 4x100m team; Noor Azhar Hamid won the sixth gold in men's high jump.)






The Pioneer Club: Glory Barnabas -RazorTV


Did your victories raise people's awareness about athletics?

Swimming and athletics were the two sports that really made the Games.

Swimming was the sport for the wealthy. But athletics was for everybody. All you needed was a pair of good jogging shoes.


What kind of resources did you have then?

When we represented Singapore, they would give us a pair of red running shorts and a white sleeveless top. It was ordinary cotton, not dri-fit. We paid for our own shoes and "spikes" - running shoes with nails underneath. We didn't have sponsors like today's athletes.

I bought rubberised Bata shoes for the first two laps (of warm-up). Then, we put on our "spikes". The only shop that sold them was in Selegie Road. They took our measurements and made their own long 1.5cm nails for the grass track.

I paid about $30 to $40 for my first pair in 1963. I was earning $180 to $200 as a trainee teacher. I'd buy one pair a year.

Later, we had shorter 0.6cm nails for the bitumen track. There was no such thing as Nike or all these brand names then.

Nowadays, the synthetic tracks are everywhere in the HDB towns. It's so much easier for athletes to train now, with so many, very good tracks.

We also didn't have physiotherapists or nutritionists, like today. Our coaches told us what to eat. They told the long-distance runners to load up on carbohydrates before the race. But as a sprinter, I didn't have a special diet.

Someone who lived near Farrer Park had weights in his house, and athletes went there to train. I don't know why he had weights, but it wasn't a proper gym. My mum would say: "Don't do weights. You'd become short." So I never did much weights.


How did you balance teaching and competing in athletics?

I had good principals who allowed me to teach in the morning session, so that I could go for teacher's training from 2.30pm to 5.30pm, and after that, athletics training at Farrer Park.


Singapore runners were known for their relays. Why did they do so well?

We had the sleekest baton-passing ever. The Thais were better runners but they would lose out in the passing.

There's a lot of skill to it - the way you hold your baton, the distance between yourself and the runner taking over, and it has to be done at top speed. Now, the Thais have learnt it from us.


Which race is your most memorable?

My 200m finals at the 1973 SEAP Games, now the South-east Asia (SEA) Games.

Everybody was talking about Than Than from Burma (now Myanmar). She was in lane 1. I was in lane 3. I had to be very careful; I knew that to beat her, I'd have to start very fast because she had a very good start and finish.

From the start, I could see her friend Aye Shwe in lane 7. I could not see Than Than. I told myself I must beat Aye Shwe round the curve, which is about halfway through, as she was the second best runner from Burma. I caught up with her.

But coming to the 100m mark, I knew I was second and Than Than was at least another 1m ahead. I gave my all to run the final 100m at top speed, all the way to the finish. I had this feeling I would have to lunge forward to make a good finish.

We waited almost half an hour before the winner was announced. It was a photo finish. It's the torso the judges were looking at, not the leg or the hands.

I got the gold for Singapore, on home ground!


You left the national team in 1977, and began competing in Masters athletic meets in 1981. Is it harder to train as you age?

I won the 200m gold at the World Masters track and field championship in Melbourne in 1987. That is my greatest personal triumph.

People who are 80 years old, 90 years old, run in the meets. That's the kind of spirit, especially in America and Australia. They put their heart and soul into it, and they train hard. Their family comes along and supports them.

I train one to two hours in the evenings. I'm not that well at the moment, but I don't let that keep me away.


How do you push yourself to keep going?

I tell myself, I'm well. I run for the Lord.


In the 1975 SEAP Games in Bangkok, you were three months pregnant but you ran.

We were short of women runners, so I had to be part of the relay team.

My husband knew about it. So did the coach and the doctor. Only three of them. My mother- in-law didn't know.

When I was at the Games, my brother died in a car crash and I came home. I received many calls. People wrote. There was even a letter from a stranger.

They said: "I'm sure your brother would have wanted you to represent the country."

So I went back to Bangkok. I pulled out of all my individual races except the relay. But we didn't win. We just made it to the finals.

I was very heartbroken because we thought we could get a medal. The team had new runners who were quite raw and not into baton passing.


Any disappointments in your athletics career?

The 4x400m race in the 1974 Asian Games in Teheran, Iran, because we really wanted to beat the Japanese.

I was the first runner. I passed the baton to Lee Tai Jong. She's a half-miler, not a sprinter, so she lost out quite a bit. But we had no choice as there were only four or five women athletes then.

Maimoon Azlan, a 400m runner, got the third leg. She caught up about 3m or 4m.

Chee Swee Lee, the last runner, had a full 8m to take on. A couple of days earlier, she had beaten the Japanese Nobuko Kawano. Now Nobuko had an 8m lead. Swee Lee nearly caught up. We lost by 1m or so.

Tai Jong was very upset. We told her it's a team effort, we ran as a team and not for ourselves. The glory is more for Singapore.

We did 3min 43.8secs. At that time we didn't realise it was such a good time. We thought others in Singapore could match up to it. Somehow all these 40 years, no one has broken it.


Why do you think it has not been broken despite the better facilities, training and incentives these days?

Maybe it's the paper chase. Maybe it's the distractions of the TV, the computer, the Internet. Despite that, we have good athletes with the passion. I'm just waiting for the day when the girls can break it.


What is the most significant life lesson you've learnt from your athletics career?

Staying focused and going all the way, and not give up halfway.


What do you think the younger generation can learn from you and your peers?

We're more like role models for them. Even though I'm past retirement age, I'm still doing sport.

Whether it's sport, a job or even a hobby, you have to work hard at it. You must set a goal for yourself and go for it. There's no short cut to success.

One of my coaches used to summarise it as "CPF". "C" for commitment in whatever you are doing. "P" for passion: Do it with your whole heart and love what you're doing. "F" for focus: Know exactly what you are trying to do. Don't digress and do other things.

Still an athlete and teacher

FORMER sprint queen Glory Barnabas may be in her early 70s, but she is still winning medals at international track and field competitions.

Last October in Kyoto, Japan, she took the gold medal in high jump and the silver for long jump at the International Gold Masters for women in the 70 to 74 age group.

Still looking lithe and lean, Mrs Barnabas set several longstanding records in her 30s while donning Singapore's colours.

At the 1973 South-east Asian Peninsular Games, she upset pre-race favourite Than Than of Myanmar to win the 200m race in a photo-finish.

The national record of 25.6sec stood for 11 years.

She also won the 4x100m relay with Heather Marican, Gan Bee Wah and Sheila Fernando that year. Their national record of 47secs was broken only 34 years later, in 2007.

The best record - which still stands - was set in the 1974 Asian Games in Iran. She won the silver medal for the women's 4x400m relay with Maimoon Azlan, Lee Tai Jong and Chee Swee Lee. Their national record of 3min 43.85sec has yet to be broken.

After her retirement from the national team in 1977, she returned to competing in meets for veteran athletes in 1981.

She is now president of the Singapore Masters Athletics, a track and field association for veteran athletes here.

Her most memorable race, she says, was at the World Masters in Melbourne in 1987 when she won the 200m gold. She did it in 27.6sec, just two seconds more than the 25.6sec in 1973.

For her achievements, the Singapore National Olympic Council gave her a meritorious award on three occasions: 1970, 1975 and 1988.

Mrs Barnabas is also a teacher of 50 years. She taught at Charlton Primary and Mountbatten Primary from 1964 to 1971, when she left for Chelsea College of Physical Education in Britain on a British Council scholarship.

She returned in 1972 to be a physical education (PE) and English teacher at Willow Avenue Secondary. In 1986, she set up and headed the PE department at Tampines Junior College.

She still teaches PE, as well as character and citizenship, at Springfield Secondary School.

Her husband, Mr Edwin Barnabas, is also in his early 70s and teaches English language and literature. Their daughter Jennifer is a tutor in her 30s.

While her husband, an athlete in his school days at Raffles Institution, supported her running passion, it was her maternal grandfather who gave her the name that has proven to be prescient.

He wanted an English name that when written in Tamil starts with the sound "k".

"A lot of people have asked me: 'How come your name fits you?' I must thank my grandfather. He's up there. When I go there, I'll ask him."

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