Asir was only 165.1cm (5’5”) tall but he had longer strides than six-footer and fellow 400m runner and double Olympian, Thamboo Krishnan.

He only did the 400m. Incredibly, he kept running the one lap well into his seventies at international veterans’ meets.

Asir, who died yesterday at 80, was a mercurial figure of Malaysian athletics in a colourful career that spanned almost 70 years.

Since his first 400m win in 1957 and his retirement from international athletics in 1974, he participated in 21 World Masters Athletics Championships and 15 Asian Masters Championships.

He holds the record for the 70-75 age group in the 400m event and few have come close to his personal best of 47.1s which he clocked during the heats at the 1968 Olympics Games in Mexico.

“He had a passion for life and athletics and often said he wanted to run for Malaysia until his last breath,” said his sister Virjit Mary.

Victor Asirvatham breathed his last five days after a vein bypass surgery. He would have been 81 in September.

Virjit said Asir developed breathing difficulties at home after being discharged from hospital on Saturday.

Tributes have been pouring in for the former National Electricity Board meter reader who became known as Asir Victor as sportspeople are called by their surname than the forename at international meets.

Krishnan said Asir often talked about running until the age of 100 in the World Masters Championship Z Category (100-120 age group).

“His dream was to achieve that and stop running,” said Krishnan who considered Asir  a “good partner and dedicated athlete”.

Krishnan said people called Asir a “bull” because he charged ferociously over the 400m.

“For a guy his height, it took skill and aggressiveness in order to thrive.

“I am a six-footer but his strides were longer than mine despite his height,” said Krishnan who excelled in the 100m, 200m and 400m at the height of the glory days of Malaysian athletics in the 60s and 70s.

Asir, he said, always sought to improve his technique and method of training by engaging with world class athletes during overseas stints.

Karu Selvaratnam, national champion over the 400m and the 400m hurdles from 1961 to 1965, said Asir was a fighter by nature and will be remembered as a legend.

“He was my training partner in Ipoh in the late 50s and became my arch rival in the 400m. We had great times together as national athletes in the 60s.

“His passion for running took him into his later years in Masters events worldwide where his resoluteness to remain quick and sharp was an inspiration to many.”

Karu said Asir was known for his sunny disposition, “a jovial guy, a good singer and dancer of Indian songs.”

The close friends were members of the 4x400m relay team, along with M Jegathesan and Rahim Ahmad, at the Asian Games in Jakarta 1962 where Malaysia won the silver medal.

Former Perak 800m runner, David Anthony, said Asir’s upbeat attitude and work ethic rubbed off on many state athletes who trained with him at the Ipoh Padang and on sandy dunes in tin mining land.

Anthony said Asir outran younger runners over short sprints even with his toes sticking out of his old pair of spikes.

“He was always in high spirits whenever I visited him at his vegetable stall at the Buntong market which he ran as a pastime for the past 50 years,” said Anthony.

He said Asir was self-taught, self-funded with guidance from his father and ran barefoot in his early days.

Asir proved that being perceived as “little” was just a perception as the story of his initiation to athletics shows.

When he was 12 years old, a school runner snatched his pencil box in the classroom. A chase ensued and Asir outran the champion sprinter and got back his belonging, much to the surprise of a teacher who instantly drew him into the track team.

Perak Athletics Association president Karim Ibrahim said at the age of 14, Asir cycled from Penang with his friends to take part in a 4x400m relay.

Karim said after a string of wins at state athletics meets, Asir began participating in bigger competitions from 1955.

He made his debut as a national athlete in 1960 but there was disappointment when, running barefoot, he did not make the cut for the 400m (50.2s) at the 1960 Rome Olympic trials at the Ipoh Padang.

Asir won his first gold medal in the 400m at the 1965 Kuala Lumpur SEAP Games and repeated the feat four years later at the games in Bangkok.

Karim said Asir also participated in the Asian Games from 1962 to 1974 and won four silver medals in 4x400m relay. He was also at the 1962 and 1966 Commonwealth Games.

His illustrious running career came to an end in 1974 when he made his last bow in the Asian Games in Tehran.

• The cremation ceremony will be held today between 11am and noon at the Buntong crematorium, off Jalan Wayang.