Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president SM Muthu said the Ipoh-born athlete, who has a history of heart problems, was brought to the KPJ Ipoh Specialist Hospital after suffering breathing difficulties and died there.

“He had a history of heart problems, and this morning he found it hard to breathe and was rushed to the hospital,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Asirvatham’s brother-in-law, Anthony Thomas, 57, said Asir’s body was taken to his sister’s house in Jalan Wayang, Buntong in Ipoh for the wake.

“He will be laid to rest at the Tambun Catholic Cemetery tomorrow,” he said.

Asirvatham was an accidental athlete, taking up athletics after chasing a school runner who took his pencil box back in 1948. A teacher saw the chase and took him under his wings.

Asirvatham then went on to run the 400m in three Olympics namely, Tokyo (1964), Mexico (1968) and Munich (1972).

His other achievements include winning 14 gold medals in the SEA Games for the 400m and 4x400m events, representing the country in the 1962 and 1966 Commonwealth Games and he also brought home four silver medals from the Asian Games in 1962, 1966, 1970 and 1974.