In the sky of Indian Athletics, if there is any star that shines very brightly and attracts the attention of the others then that must be Thadathuvila Chandapillai Yohannan. The very famous athlete of India is always remembered for bringing a new dimension in the field of Long Jump in India that he started to show in the year of 1974. He gave this brand new dimension in the Teheran Asian Games held in that year. He was born at Kundara village in Quilon district of the State of Kerala in India on 19 May 1947. He started to love the game of Athletics in his early childhood when he took part in the Inter-School Meets on behalf of the Ezhukone Panchayat in the year of 1964.

After he joined the public sector Bhilai Steel Plant, he continued to take part in the Athletics meets and he represented his Plant in the Steel Plants Sports Meet in 1969. He also had his first experience of playing athletics at the National level in that very same year. In his very first participation in the National level, he finished fourth in the Long Jump and placed fifth in the event of Triple Jump. However, in the very next year in 1970, he improved his performance a lot and claimed the second spot in the Long Jump event of the Nationals. He was improving so fast at that time that he set a National mark of 7.60 metres in Patiala in the year of 1971, just after three years since he started playing in the Nationals.

For these extraordinary performances, he was selected represent India in an international Athletics event held in Singapore and he paid the price back to his country by winning Gold Medals in both the events of Long Jump and Triple Jump. Thadathuvila Chandapillai Yohannan won the National title in the event of Triple Jump in the year of 1972 and made set a new National Record with a great jump of 7,78 metres in 1973. He made a magnificent effort to jump the height of 8.07 metres in the Teheran Asian Games in 1974 and with the help of this very wonderful effort, he came into the limelight of Asian and National Athletics. Not only came to the limelight, he also claimed a permanent place in the record books as well as in the history of the Indian Athletics. This extraordinary performance is rated at par with that of Milkha Singh when he ran in the Rome Olympics and broke the record.

As he was showing magnificent performances in the championships, the Athletics Meet organisers of Japan invited him in the next year in 1975 and he won Gold medals in the competitions held at Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Kobe city. He did the same and won the Gold medals in the championships held at the Philippines and Sibu City as well. However, he did not continue in taking part in the International or National level Athletics meets after he participated in the Montreal Olympics in the year of 1976.

Apart from taking part in the Athletics meets, Thadathuvila Chandapillai Yohannan is also the diploma holder in Mechanical Engineering. He has received a lot of honourary awards in his lifetime that include the very much prestigious and honourable "Arjuna Award" from the Government of India in 1974 and also a merit award from the Government of Kerala, his own State. His employers also did honour him by presenting him the "Telco Veer" award. Not only the above-mentioned organisations, Thadathuvila Chandapillai Yohannan has also been honoured by some other renowned associations as well. They are the Bombay and Chennai Sports Journalists Association, Lions Club, Sportsweek and the Tata Sports Club of Bombay.