Datuk Rahim Ahmad, king of the quartermile

Being put in charge of the Icons column in the Malay Mail not too long ago was an enlightening experience for me. In producing an article on the figures and trailblazers who had created an impact on the sports fraternity, I spent most of the time at the NSTP resource centre, not batting an eyelid as I went through every single word on the archived material over the microfiche machine.

One of the athletes featured in the column was Datuk Rahim Ahmad, the first ever Malaysian to scoop a medal in a multi-sportsfest. Last week I paid him a visit at his residence at Gedung Lalang, Ampangan, Seremban.

Rahim's memory remains sharp

Rahim shows the Asian Games bronze medal to coach, Tom Rosandich, now the US Sports Academy president and CEO, and Mobarak Sher Ahmad, Ishtiaq's father. From Rahim's album

The visit lasted two hours. As a result, I wrote a piece on Rahim, 76 in June, in my column in Kosmo! today. I'm sure he'll frame the article which touches on his visit to China as the head of a delegation of ping-pong players, two years before Tun Razak Hussein's historic visit to Beijing. Oh, I shall return to taste Datin's lomak cili api soon...

The framed article, written by loose cannon in August 2005, takes pride of place in a room he calls his office