'I need to pull off something amazing': Thiruben wants to win Singapore's first SEA Games 800m medal in 52 years

As the holder of multiple national records in track and field, Thiruben Thana Rajan is best known for his speed. But what most may not know about him is that he's quick even off the track.

Meeting with Thiruben to speak with him about his preparations for the upcoming SEA Games, I was expecting to encounter an athlete. Turns out, I found myself face-to-face with a one-man newsroom too.

The second a track-and-field athlete in Singapore breaks a national record, the 25-year-old's storytelling instincts kick in. 

He drops them a congratulatory text and asks for a quote, plucks out historical statistics from his mind with ease, then, for good measure, nudges their coach for a quick comment on their achievements.

Before long, the report is written – and the news breaks to more than 30,000 followers on Singapore Athletics' social media pages.

"I'm just a track-and-field fan, and I was always a bit of a geek," he said. "Maybe that's a good answer to who I am (outside of running)."

He speaks of his work as a marketing and sponsorships executive for the sport's association with the same pride as he does of his national records.

The most recent of these came at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea earlier this year, where he ran the 800m in 1:49.94 to surpass Sinnathambi Pandian's timing of 1:50.56 set in 1987 – 13 years before the younger athlete was born.

This December, the 2025 SEA Games in Bangkok, Thailand, presents another opportunity for him to write his name in the history books.

If he succeeds in his pursuit of gold, Thiruben will end Singapore's 52-year medal drought in the 800m. The last man to stand on the podium for that event was Serjit Singh, who took bronze in 1973. In the women's event, Singaporean Goh Chui Ling took bronze at the 2023 SEA Games in Phnom Penh.  

THE DOUBLE LIFE

In a conference room at the Singapore Athletic Association (SAA) office, at my prompting, we scrolled through the association's Instagram page which he manages as part of his full-time job.

As Thiruben recalls, when he came onboard as an employee, the page had 4,000 followers. Now that number has crossed the 12,000 mark.

He had been humble about his records on the track but he was not shy about his self-honed multimedia skills, starting with a heartfelt confession that he considers himself a creative person at heart.

"Scrolling back (through the Instagram page), you can see the graphics getting better because I'm getting better at my job," he said, smiling proudly.

Thiruben doesn't simply make the page look good. Click on any post on the page featuring an athlete, and you see their personal stories laid out alongside the significance of their sporting accomplishments.

"When these posts gain traction, I think it helps push our athletes into the spotlight – especially because I'm always timely with them. I'm reporting live essentially, and it makes it easy for the public to follow.

"There's no way people are going to find any affinity with our athletes if they don't have a platform (where they can) follow them."

In addition to crafting posts on social media, Thiruben is also responsible for garnering sponsorships for SAA and its athletes – a role he doesn't take lightly either.

Since joining the association full-time, Thiruben has helped to bring in seven new sponsors for the sport. This includes one of its main sponsors, Income Insurance, which last July announced that it would commit S$100,000 annually for five years to SAA via insurance coverage and funding for overseas training and competitions.

Thiruben is well aware that such funds do not come easy for sports associations here.

"I think the only thing stopping people from pursuing a sporting career in Singapore is because they don't have the opportunity to earn from it," he said.

"When I was a younger athlete, I didn't have as many opportunities to go overseas to train, but that makes a big difference. These sponsors directly help the athletes themselves because they're funnelled into our high-performance programmes and our facilities."

LOSING, AND THEN FINDING HIMSELF

When it comes to raising the level of the sport's publicity from a corporate perspective, Thiruben may sound like he talks a big game. But as a superb, disciplined athlete in his own right, he walks the talk each and every day.

He trains twice a day: Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays are reserved for track work, and gym sessions fall on Tuesdays and Fridays. Long runs of about 30 to 60 minutes fill the gaps in between.

Sundays are his only complete rest days. There are no late nights and no fast food; his social life comprises time spent with his training crew and dinner with his girlfriend once a week.

I asked if it – all of it – hurt.

"(After) years of training at such an intensity, your body just adapts to anything," he said.

Then he adds, deadpan: "Or maybe I'm just perpetually tired to the point it doesn't register anymore."

It's easy to forget Thiruben is training at this intensity on top of his full-time job.

Nevertheless, he's aware that the flexibility afforded to him by his work is a rare gift.

"I think not many athletes in Singapore – because we're all balancing school and work – train as frequently as I do. It's only because I don't have to report to work at a fixed hour, so it's allowed me to train a full-time athlete's training load."

But everything nearly fell apart seven years ago.

At 17, he became the fastest schoolboy ever in the 800m, broke the national U18 record in the 400m to qualify for the semi-finals of the World U18 Championships, and made his SEA Games debut.

It was to be onwards and upwards from that point on, but a mere one year later at the age of18, Thiruben tore his hamstring in training during his final year at National Junior College.

His plans to break new records had to be shelved.

"It affected me a great deal mentally and I became depressed not knowing how to deal with the disappointment and the loss of identity without my sport," he said.

"I always saw myself as … an athlete training towards something. Suddenly not being able to (train), that was a big blow."

For Thiruben, the devastation extended beyond the track.

Growing up, he had always excelled academically – he was in the Gifted Education Programme since primary school and never really struggled with exams.

That year however, he just couldn't make himself focus.

"I didn't account for the fact that feeling so down and depressed would make it so difficult to study. It's quite impossible to put stuff in your head when you're feeling that way."

He ended up failing his A-Level examinations, but came to accept the outcome with the support of his family and his therapist. The following year, he retook and passed the exam as a private candidate, after studying during his National Service.

A year is a long time for a competitive athlete to deal with a niggling injury. I asked if it ever crossed his mind to pursue other things.

Never, he said right away – and not just because he genuinely loves running.

"I knew I had potential," he said. "I knew I would end up running well again – just not right now.

"Everyone goes through various struggles in their life, so maybe I'm lucky that I had a good support system, and that it happened to me at an age where it's okay to kind of fail at certain things.

"If I didn't go through that, I wouldn't be as successful as I am now."

IN THE LONG RUN

As someone who'd previously dabbled in running, I couldn't hide my incredulity at him voluntarily committing to the unique torture of the 800m race.

He grinned knowingly – it's the most painful event to run, he said.

You can't quite run the 800m at full tilt, but you can't ease up too much either – and towards the end, it's often only the mind willing your legs to move.

"I knew it was going to hurt more… but I always had a soft spot for the 800m,” he said. "It's a well-respected event, it's tough tactically, and it makes the best use of my characteristics."

He started as a cross-country runner, so longer distances don't intimidate him the way they do pure sprinters. But years running the 400m have given him a finishing kick that distance runners can't match.

"That leg speed," he said, "is quite a good weapon".

The switch paid off quickly, culminating in that night in South Korea where he broke the national record. As with all 800m races, he recalled the pain he felt across his entire body as throughout the last 200m.

"I just kept chanting in my head, 'National record, national record – that's what's at the end if you keep pushing'."

The next two years will be the most important of his career. First up: the SEA Games in December, where he is determined to push for gold.

The previous edition of the SEA Games in Hanoi saw him take home bronze as part of the 4x400m relay team, but Thiruben is hoping to climb higher on the podium this time around.

"I'm definitely confident," he said, though he quickly followed with a caveat: "But I'm not even the favourite. I know I still need to pull off something amazing."

Then there's the Commonwealth Games in July 2026, where he'll face tougher competition from nations such as Australia and Kenya.

The objective is the same – he doesn't want to be there to make up the numbers. Don't doubt his seriousness: Not only is he taking on a full-time training schedule, he's even basing himself primarily overseas starting next year.

"Singapore is probably one of the worst places to train for 800m and above," he said with a laugh.

"Even in Kenya, they train in cool climates – 12 degrees (Celsius). When I’m overseas, my heart rate is about 20 beats per minute lower. I can handle more load and recover faster."

But given the option, Thiruben would want to keep nurturing the "baby" he's raised in the form of SAA's growing social media presence.

"It's always been the most fun aspect of my job to me and I know it makes a big difference to the community," he said.

The self-professed geek is determined to see his work through in that area too, for the love of the game and the vision of watching Singapore's track and field athletes reach the next level.

And come December, he might write the headline he's been chasing.