IT WAS a gathering of past Singapore national athletes (above, at Seletar Country Club). Once, they could outrun or outjump their peers with ease. They met again to talk about the good old days with former national athletics coach Tan Eng Yoon.

Tan Eng Yoon

Won Singapore's first South-east Asian Peninsular (Seap) Games gold in 1959 in Bangkok (400m hurdles). Also won gold in triple jump, which he successfully defended in the 1961 Games. The former honorary national athletics coach from 1958 to 1970 still cuts a lean figure.

C. Kunalan

Won Asian Games silver and bronze in 1966, and another bronze in 1974. Won 4x400m relay gold in 1975 Seap Games. The athletic- built Kunalan sprinted to a national record of 10.3sec at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

Glory Barnabas

Winner of the 200m in the 1973 Seap Games on home soil, she belonged to the golden generation of women athletes that included Chee Swee Lee. Barnabas was also part of the gold-winning 4x100m quartet in 1973. Won Asian Games relay silvers in 1970 and 1974.

Chee Swee Lee

1974 Asian Games 400m champion in a record time of 55.08sec. First Singaporean to strike gold in the Asiad, and was named the Sportswoman of the Year. Also won gold in the 1975 Seap Games.

Noor Azhar Hamid

The lanky high jumper set a national and Asian record at the 1973 Seap Games. It was just a centimetre short of the seven-foot mark and stood for 22 years.

Yeo Kian Chai

Won a 1971 Seap Games silver in the 100m and was part of the 4x100m relay quartet that bagged bronze in the 1974 Asian Games. Named 1972 Sportsman of the Year.

Loh Chan Pew

Part of the 4x100m silver winning team at the 1973 Seap Games.

Wong Chong Sai

Won a silver in the 1973 Seap Games for pole vault.

Osman Merican

In 1966, he clocked an electronically timed 14.76sec at the Bangkok Asian Games to set a national 110m hurdles record that stands to this day. He married the glamorous Heather Siddons, but they divorced in 1986.