By Ho Lian-Yi

FRACTURED collar bones, broken ribs, cracked wrists and a concussion.

These were just some of the injuries Mr Joseph Ong suffered in pursuit of his sporting love.

A doctor even told him that he had a 5per cent chance of dying if he did not give up his hobby.

But the managing director for car distributor Tan Chong Motors was not about to hang up his triathlon suit - not even after three accidents in as many years and a diagnosed heart problem.

Mr Ong, 60, prefers being in the thrashing, freezing, salty 'washing machine' that is the swim leg of a triathlon to being on a golf course like his peers.

'Golf is not a sport. I have a certificate but I don't play it,' he said on Wednesday over a plate of satay at the Tanglin Club, where he swims.

He deadpaned: 'It's too difficult.'

Tanned and sleek as a missile in his body-hugging tri-suit, his enviable 1.73m tall, 65kg frame is the result of hard work - one to two hours of training every weekday and three hours on Saturdays and Sundays.

The former national sailor is the oldest of the three Singaporeans who qualified for the World Ironman 70.3 Championship in Clearwater, Florida, later this year.

Mr Ong completed his first full Ironman - a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike and 42km run - in the New Zealand Ironman in March.

But the road to get there was a bloody one.

Mr Ong's first crash came on a damp morning in January 2007 while he was cycling through Old Mandai Road. He skidded as he wasn't paying attention on the wet road.

'I was probably unconscious for a little while,' he said.

A passerby asked him if he was all right. Mr Ong said yes. But when he tried to pick up his bicycle, he realised his wrist was fractured. His helmet was broken and his head was bleeding.

Holding his bike with his good hand, he hailed a cab, went home and took a shower before going to see a doctor, who put a cast on his arm.

'Because you have to look good when you go to a hospital,' he said about taking a shower first.

He didn't tell his wife, who was out of town, and she only found out a week later, when she got back.

Going downhill

Crash number two came at the Ironman China event at Hainan island in March 2008. He was cycling downhill when he tried to avoid a wobbling cyclist in front.

He fell on his side. But that did not stop him from finishing the remaining 15km of the bicycle leg. He did not know that he had broken his left collar bone and left pelvis, as well as his helmet.

Mr Ong was told to stop at the transition, but he insisted on carrying on. But he felt a 'short, sharp surge of pain' as he put on his shoes for the run and was sent to the hospital.

That same year, a health check in Singapore revealed a high cholesterol problem and a clogged ventricle.

His doctor, a friend, prescribed statins (drugs that lower cholesterol) to control his problem and warned him that he could die if he carried on.

Mr Ong threw the pills away and signed up for the Laguna Phuket Triathlon.

But, as Mr Ong put it, 'recklessness demands a payback' when he suffered a third accident in Phuket - his most serious yet.

To this day, he has no recollection of how it occurred. He only knows he was unconscious for 40 minutes. He woke up in a hospital, feeling confused because a man was speaking Thai to him.

Other than a concussion, he suffered a broken right collar bone, three broken ribs. Another helmet had to be written off.

The doctor told him to stay in the hospital for a week. But Mr Ong insisted on flying to Singapore the next day as the flight had been arranged.

The day after arriving home, he flew to Japan for an important business discussion.

'I was in a sling, of course, but the brain was still working,' he said.

Do his friends ever say he is crazy?

'They all do. We're all crazy to a degree,' he said.

His family members worry, but they are supportive.

'They don't say stop doing it, they just say be careful, and they pray a lot,' he said.

Mr Ong qualified for the World Championship by finishing second in his age group at the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Philippines last month.

Good news

He recalled how when he called one of his two sons (both in their 20s) to share the good news, the latter said: 'Every time I get a phone call from you and not the hospital, that's a success.'

His homemaker wife, Mrs Lilian Ong, said she 'nearly collapsed' when she received the phone call about his Phuket accident. But she added: 'Every sport has injuries. It's no different with being a triathlete.'

Would she ever ask him to stop?

She said: 'No way, I'm his la la dui (Mandarin for cheerleader)!'

She and their sons will be cheering him on in Florida.

Fellow World Ironman 70.3 Championship contestant Enrico Varella, 44, who runs a leadership training consultancy, said Mr Ong may be the oldest Singaporean to compete at this level.

But he added: 'It's not unusual for a 60-year-young triathlete like Mr Ong to compete. Last year, I witnessed one of my inspirations, Sister Madonna Budder, compete at a youthful 78 years in Clearwater, Florida.'

This article was first published in The New Paper.