On 12 September 1974 at the Aryamehr Stadium in Tehran, T. C. Yohannan jumped 8.07 metres to win the Asian Games long jump. No Asian had cleared eight metres in the event before. The jump stood as India’s national record for 30 years.
Name: Thadathuvila Chandapillai Yohannan
Born: 19 May 1947, Maranadu, Kollam, Kerala
Sport: Athletics
Event: Long jump
Kollam beginnings
Yohannan was born in Maranadu in Kollam district on 19 May 1947, the youngest of six children. He jumped at school and college and moved north to work with TELCO, now Tata Motors, where coach Suresh Gujrati took charge of his training. He began winning national titles. Selected for an international meet in Singapore, he won gold in both the long jump and triple jump. In 1972 he also won the national triple jump title.
The 8.07 in Tehran
In 1973 he set a national record of 7.78 metres and took a triple jump medal at the Asian Championships in Marikina. He jumped 7.65 at the trials for the 1974 Asian Games and went to Tehran as one of India’s best hopes.
He had been carrying an injury and was given painkilling injections before the final. In the competition he produced 8.07 metres, a Games record, an Asian record and a national record all at once. Takayoshi Kawagoe of Japan took silver with 7.77 and India’s Satish Pillai won bronze. Photographs of the jump show the way Yohannan threw his hips forward on landing, which coaches said gained him valuable distance.
After Tehran
He was invited to Japan in 1975 and won competitions in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kobe, and he won the long jump at the 1975 Asian Championships in Seoul. He received the Arjuna Award in 1974 and was part of India’s team for the 1976 Montreal Olympics, but injury kept him from repeating his Tehran form.
His 8.07 lasted as the Indian record until 2004, when Amritpal Singh jumped 8.08. Yohannan’s son Tinu Yohannan played Test cricket for India as a fast bowler.
Career record and honours
- Asian Games gold medal, long jump: Tehran 1974, 8.07m
- First Asian to jump eight metres
- Asian Championships gold medal, long jump: Seoul 1975
- Asian Championships medal, triple jump: Marikina 1973
- Indian long jump record, 1974 to 2004
- Olympic team: Montreal 1976
- Arjuna Award (1974)
