Truly grateful for a chance to study

Career path: A combo picture of Annastasia Karen presently and when she was still in sports

KLANG: It was during her preparations for the 1998 Commonwealth Games that race walker Annastasia Karen Raj realised that she was in the twilight of her athletic career.

“I knew that it was time for me to find something new, but I did not want just a job.

“I wanted a career which would allow me to soar,” said the 42-year-old mother of three who broke the national race walking record 13 times in four years during the height of her athletic career.

Luckily for Annastasia Karen, an article about her was published in The Star just before the games took off.

“The article caught the attention of Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing who offered me free education in his institution,” said Annastasia Karen, who also competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

With a diploma from the then Lim Kok Wing Institute, Annastasia Karen worked for an employment agency and two banks before moving on to her current job early last year.

She is currently Asia Pacific director of talent acquisition for Fortune 500 company Lear Corporation, which is a supplier of automotive seating and electrical systems.

Annastasia Karen, who was home for a brief visit, is currently based in the American conglomerate’s Shanghai office.

Her husband chef Joseph Anthony and their three children Asher, 14, Alexia, 11, and Azriel, nine, have also moved to Shanghai.

“It is a great job and I travel quite a bit,” said Annastasia Karen.

She is also hoping to do a Master’s in Business Administration soon.

As an athlete, she would have been able to get a job with an SPM certificate but said it would not have been a career.

She was truly thankful to have been given a chance to study at the time when her athletic career was coming to an end.

“Athletes during my time did not get the windfall that current athletes get when they win or participate in tournaments,” said Annastasia Karen.

Many ended up with jobs that had little or no prospects at all and there were also some who faced difficult times after their athletic careers waned, she said.

She was saddened to learn that her former coach and mentor race walking ace V. Subramaniam was operating a food stall to make ends meet.

The 67-year-old Subramaniam had to open the stall in Ampang after losing his coaching job with the National Sports Council.

Annastasia Karen said she hoped past athletes, who had fallen on hard times, would be given a helping hand to sort out their lives.

Sources : The Star Online