 Thadathuvila Chandapillai Yohannan, the very famous athlete of India was born on 19th may 1947. T. C. Yohannan is always remembered for bringing a new dimension in the field of Long Jump in India. He started his career in the year 1974 and gave a brand new dimension in the Teheran Asian Games held in that year. 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.
Early Life of T.C.Yohannan T.C.Yohannan was born at Kundara village in Quilon district in the Indian state of Kerala. He was inspired into the game of athletics from a childhood incident. Yohannan once fell in a canal which he could not cross but managed to cross it on being offered an impetus by his father. He began participating in the inter-school sports meet for the Ezhukone Panchayat. Later he joined Bhilai for his Mechanical Engineering studies. Athletic career of T.C.Yohannan  After Yohannan joined the 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 enhanced his performance and claimed the second spot in the Long Jump event of the Nationals. 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 to 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. 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. 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 where he won Gold medals in the competitions held at Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Kobe city. He also won 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 and has been an employer of the TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO). Awards and Honours of Yohannan T. C. Yohannan has received many honourary awards in his lifetime which includes the prestigious and honourable "Arjuna Award" from the Government of India in 1974 and a merit award from the Government of Kerala, his own State. His employers also did honour him by presenting him the "Telco Veer" award. 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 Mumbai. (Last Updated on : 12-09-2012) |
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