Murali Kuttan

Murali Kuttan (1953? – 19 December 2010) was an Indian track and field athlete who represented the country as a sprinter on several occasions. He won the 400 metres gold in the Indo-Russian athletic meet in 1978. In the same year, he also won the bronze in the 400 metres at the Asian Games in Bangkok. He was married to former olympian athlete Mercy Kuttan.

Career Hailing from Punnapra, in Alappuzha district, Murali Kuttan was a late bloomer in his favourite sport. He initially competed in the shorter versions of the sprint, 100 metres and 200 metres. Success came his way after joining the Indian Army in 1974 and after he switched his attention to the 400 metres. He was national champion in 400 m during 1975 to 84. His personal best time in 400m was 46.8 s.

One of his first international success came in the Indo-Russian athletic meet in 1978 where he won the 400m gold. In the same year, at the Bangkok Asian Games, Murali won the 400 m bronze behind Abbas Al Aibi of Iraq and compatriot Uday K. Prabhu. With the latter, Murali shared a healthy rivalry through the most part of the 1970s. Murlai took the role of the coach and had influenced Mercy to shift from long jump to 400 metre. Both Murali and Mercy worked for Tata Steel, Jamshedpur. They set up the "Mercy Kuttan Athletics Academy" in Kochi, a non-profit organisation to train promising youth for major international competitions. He had been training his younger son Sujith Kuttan with the 2014 Olympics as the goal.

Death

On 19 December 2010 at 1.30 am, Murali Kuttan suffered a massive heart attack and died at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.