The Silent Killer in the Pantheon of Celeb-Athlete Culture
In an English bleak midwinter, Leo Tolstoy in his book War and Peace wrote: “There is no greatness when there is no simplicity.” The unerring line sparks familiarity in our first encounter with Ahmad Luth Hamizan, the national middle-distance athlete.
The 26-year-old often darts in 3000 to 5000-meter events and most recently featured in the Kuala Lumpur’s 2017 SEA Games. He didn’t win though, but his performance was so encouraging that he is tipped for more positive results in coming years.
Athletes nowadays excel not only on the pitch but off the pitch too. They are becoming some sort of celebrity, from the flashy haircuts, being over-followed on their social media sites to being discussed more about their fashion sense rather than their performance. Luth is a rare breed; he isn’t one of those typical athletes you’d find. He’s calm and collected, almost nothing fancy from his appearance.
The success of any athlete is as perceived by the mass, down to the all the ‘sports-related’ stuff he or she does. It is to be agreed that high-level training and modern-day sportsman diet would provide the most solid platform for an athlete to craft their success on. But it is the character that breaks a promising athlete to the proven ones. Luth cuts a very calm persona with his humbleness and simplicity in each of his moves.
From the very beginning of his career, Luth showed great potential to be a sporting principle. He has got everything in his locker; a very well-built pair of legs, great running proficiency, natural stamina and a sportsperson’s mentality. But all the aforementioned attributes would be listed in a group below the most important asset which the boy didn’t even know he got. And that attribute is called humility.
Hailed from the evergreen city of Negeri Sembilan, little did the young Luth know that one day he was going to represent his home country in his beloved sport. The green track of SMK Seri Ampangan witnessed the wonder-kid honed his skills and strengthen his game. But everything wasn’t justified that early in his career as Luth admitted to us, there were far more gifted athletes in the states that time.
“When I was in junior high school, the competition was tough. There are many more athletes blessed with natural running sense and I found it very hard to compete with them. The training wasn’t quite the standard I’m in now but at that time, I was aware that only continuous hard work and consistency will lift me to the next level.”
Some of the competitors he talked about were already running from primary school which wasn’t the case with Luth. His interest in running only started to develop when he was approaching 13 years old, in high school. Picking up a little bit late was hard as Luth needed more time before he can be on the same wavelength as his counterparts. But it was this period of synchronization that he learned persistence is key to his own success.
His big break came when he was in 16. Fresh from participating in national level races for schoolboys, Luth managed to chart himself among the top runners that year with series of immense performances.
“I remember every top school runner at that was gunning for a place in Asian School Championship. I was selected to run for my country for the first time in that event and I was over the moon with the news.”
From there the 5 ft 9’s runner didn’t look back and continued to excel both in sports and academic. Luth did well enough in school despite having to manage his time between training and studying. He was offered a place to do his pre-university program at the highly respected Sekolah Sukan Bukit Jalil (SSBJ).
In SSBJ, Luth was granted everything he needed to move forward. Armed with top-class facilities and experienced coaches, Luth went on to belt out outstanding performances one after another. Soon the call-up to represent his state in the 2010’s SUKMA in Malacca came and Luth once again didn’t disappoint. His performance there justified his place and reputation as one of the rising stars in track and field.
But it wasn’t all sunshine,” he admitted.
Like any other field of work, sometimes you have your off days in running. These are the days where you feel really down and not up to the task. Your body just can’t quite get to follow what your mind wants and it is really tough.
Then when you’re more experienced, you know both the sport and yourself better. When bad patches hit you, you sort of know how to react. For me, if I ever felt less motivated, I would take a step back, try to relax and calm myself down. I’ll only start pushing myself again after I feel completely okay.
Every time he found himself smothered with that newly-added calmness, he managed to better his game. As a result, the SEA Games debut beckoned and Luth recalled him being so pleased with it.
“Everyone knows how big SEA Games is. Since the first day I started running, it was a dream to represent my country there. It is the biggest event in the region. I was only 19 during the 2011’s Palembang edition but I wasn’t afraid. In fact, I was excited knowing that there should be a lot to take from there.”
SEA Games must be his destiny then. Luth went on to represent the country on two more occasions, in 2015 (Singapore) and 2017 (Kuala Lumpur). Not only that, he is the mainstay in the national setup. In 2012, after two years of great academic performance in SSBJ, Luth received an offer to complete his tertiary education at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). There, he took an education bachelor degree program in physical education.
As if studying and running for the country is not enough, Luth subscribed to the challenge of representing the navy as one of their athletes in 2013. Since then, he ran countless races for the army outfit and not looking like he is going to stop anytime soon.
“Running for the navy was the chance that came quite unexpectedly. But I learned a lot from the people in the camp so far. I vowed to continue running for them as far as I can continue learning and growing both as a runner and as a person,” he added.
As we spoke, Luth just began his 2018 training program after a lengthy lay-off post Kuala Lumpur SEA Games. Now that the recovery period is over, Luth is aiming for Commonwealth and Asian Games for 2018. “Tough task, this,” he said. “But I feel good about it. I rarely feel defeated so optimism might be one of the traits I naturally possessed.
Right now I will be focusing on finishing the last semester of my degree years. Chronologically I’ll be completing my thesis before going on to do practical training at SMK Seri Indah, Serdang. Then training in Kenyan soil with one of my ex-coaches will follow. It is still undecided whether Selangor or Negeri Sembilan to be the one sending me there though.
Luth happened to be the epitome of what people from Negeri Sembilan are known for – an iron-willed work ethic, bravery and humility that comes inside one baggage. That graft has made Luth who he is now and it is the hope of the nation to see the lad accomplish more success in the future. With the attitude and support given to him now, more recognition in his career after this is inevitable.
