TO introduce former Malaysian sprinter Watson Nyambek, one tends to run out of superlatives. Much praise and compliments have been heaped on him and to take another look at one of the finest sprinters ever produced by Sarawak, Miri-born Watson can be remembered as the athlete who was on the brink of world greatness.
The highs and lows of his career can be described as two Olympics, breaking the 29-year-old national 100m record — not once but several times, becoming the first Malaysian to win a medal — a silver at the Asian Track and Field, and holding the indoor championships record for the 60m.
For all his achievements, Watson, who earned the moniker “Flying Dayak”, failed to win a SEA Games gold for Malaysia even though he did get a bronze, he did not win an Asian Games medal in the 100m — with his great form then, he should have finished on the podium as he was Southeast Asia’s fastest man.
Like a phantom, he burst into the national scene as a schoolboy, catching the attention of the athletics fraternity when he beat the famed Thai runners at the Thailand Open as a junior.
He arrived on the scene at a time when Sarawak did not have a sprinter in the 100m who could dip below the 11-second mark.
The former 100m record holder was introduced to sprinting by his school coach, Cikgu Ali, at St Columba, Miri but it was only in the mid-90s that he caught the nation’s attention.
At the time, the nation’s best sprinter, Azmi Ibrahim from Pahang, became his rival in the early years.
Having defeated him later when Watson’s status as a sprinter of class grew under the stewardship of Canadian coach Daniel St Hilaire, the Miri athlete never looked back.
He stormed into the national scene with a blistering record-breaking run dubbed “The Duel of the Century” when he defeated Azmi in the Pahang Sukma 100m final.
His time of 10.38secs also shattered the 29-year-old national record by M. Jegathesan (set at the 1966 Asiad) of 10.46secs. He went on to break the national record three times in 1998 — 10.31secs, 10.30secs and 10secs (wind assisted).
Yet his highest achievements in terms of medal count was the silver he won at the Asian Track and Field in the same year.
At the Asian Games, he won both heats in 10.25 secs and 10.20 secs in the semi-finals — the fastest in any condition in Southeast Asia but both were wind-assisted and not officially recognised.
In the finals, he stumbled at the start and finished fourth with a time of 10.32secs.
Watson also took part in the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and reached the quarterfinals of the 100m event.
In 1999, he created an achievement of sorts when he became the first Malaysian athlete to enter the semi-finals of the World Indoor Championships with a time of 6.66 secs in the 60m event held in Seville, Spain.
He retired in 2002 but came out of his short break in 2003 citing family problems as he was the eldest in the family with his father retiring from his job.
His last race was at the national championships in 2003 when he won a silver but he soon hung up his spikes for good and took up employment as sprinting coach with the Sarawak State Sports Council based in his hometown Miri.
Reflecting on Watson’s career, many sports pundits agreed that he was one of the talented sprinters Sarawak had ever produced.
Most also came to the consensus that Watson could have been a world-class athlete if he had knuckled down and trained hard — he was sent for training in countries such as the US and Canada.
However, Watson, who had made it known that he preferred to be trained by former British great Linford Christie, almost had the chance but his plans were curtailed at the last moment due to reasons he did not want to disclose.
For all his hits and misses, Watson is still considered one of Sarawak’s and Malaysia’s sporting greats, capturing the imagination of athletics fans for almost two decades.
