To watch Shanti Pereira run fast is a privilege

I’m in the wrong stadium at the wrong time. Two gifted women are playing a tennis final in Singapore on Sunday evening in the OCBC Arena, but on my colleague Laura Chia’s phone, which is balanced on my knee, we are surreptitiously watching a woman run in Nagoya, Japan. It’s close to half-past six on Sept 27. It’s Shanti Pereira time. For this woman in the 200m you stop anything and ignore everything.

Pereira is relaxed at the blocks, I’m feeling some tension. This woman literally takes our breath away. The gun fires, the commentator mangles her name but who cares, we’re here for her brilliant unspoken language. She communicates through the undiluted expression of her physical self and by transmitting the thrill of exertion. To watch her run is a privilege.