Mohammad Sarengat Explained

Mohammad Sarengat
Birth Date:28 October 1939
Birth Place:Banyumas, Dutch East Indies
Death Place:Jakarta, Indonesia
Show-Medals:yes

Mohammad Sarengat (October 28, 1939 – October 13, 2014) was an Indonesian track and field sprinter. Sarengat became the first Indonesian athlete to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. He won gold in the 100-meter sprint at the 1962 Asian Games.[1]

Born in Kedunguter in Banyumas Regency, he grew up in Batang Regency before settling in Surabaya. He came from a sporting family – his uncle Mursanyoto was a goalkeeper for the Indonesia national football team.[2]

Sarengat won the gold medal in the 100-meter sprint at the 1962 Asian Games held in Jakarta in 10.4 seconds.[1] The win made Sarengat the first Indonesian gold medalist at any Asian Games. He also won a second gold medal at the competition, winning the 110-meter hurdles with an Asian record time of 14.3 seconds.[3] He also won a bronze medal in the 200-meter sprint.[4] Sarengat held the Indonesian record for the 100-meter sprint (10.4 seconds) for the next twenty-two years, until it was broken by sprinter Mohamed Purnomo at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.[1]

Only two other Indonesian athletes have won gold medals at the Asian Games since 1962 - Supriyati Sutono and Maria Natalia Londa.[1] Following his Asian Games win, his only other international medal of note was a silver medal in the 110 m hurdles at the 1963 GANEFO Games, where he placed behind China's Gao Jiqiao.[5] Following his retirement, a football stadium in Batang Regency (his home area) was named in honour as the Moh Sarengat Stadium.[2]

After finishing his sports career he trained as a medic and went on to serve as physician for the Indonesian vice president Adam Malik.[3] Sarengat died on October 13, 2014, at Pondok Indah Hospital in South Jakarta at the age of 73. He had been hospitalized since suffering a stroke in 2012. He was survived by his wife and children.[1]

Notes and References

  1. News: Ami . Afriatni . Indonesian Sprinting Great Sarengat Dies Aged 74 . . 2014-10-13 . 2014-10-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141023074201/http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/sports/indonesian-sprinting-great-sarengat-dies-aged-74/ . 2014-10-23 . dead .
  2. Wardany, Irawaty (2014-10-18).Sprinting legend M. Sarengat dies at 73 . Jakarta Post. Retrieved on 2014-10-20.
  3. http://www.jakarta.go.id/web/encyclopedia/detail/3828/Mohammad-Sarengat Mohammad Sarengat
  4. http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/asg.htm Asian Games
  5. http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/gang.htm GANEFO Games