Malaysia’s most popular chocolate drink, Milo, happens to be one of my favourite drinks ever since I was a kid. Being ever so curious, I looked up for info on it at Wikipedia. As expected, the article beheld some very interesting information.

Milo in Malaysia is served in kopitiams and mamak stalls offering versions such as “Milo Dinosaur” (a cup of milo with an extra spoonful of powdered undissolved Milo added to it), “Milo Godzilla” (a cup of Milo with ice cream and/or whipped cream on top of it) and “Neslo” (combined with Nescafe powdered coffee).

Well, I’ve heard of Neslo, and I kinda like the taste of it, provided the mamak put less sugar in it, but Milo Dinosaur? Milo Godzila? I was quite surprised to read that but I figured since you can find a Roti Anwar* in Subang, hey, why not Milo Tauren or something, right?

But that isn’t so interesting by itself. It seems that Nestlé chose the name of that high-energy drink in honor of Milo of Croton, a great Olympian athlete in the times of ancient Greece. Apparently, the article quotes that he’s a not a myth, but rather, a historical person.

He was born in the Greek colony of Croton in Southern Italy. He was a six time Olympic victor; once for Boys Wrestling in 540 BC at the 60th Olympics, and five time wrestling champion at the 62nd through 66th Olympiads. Milo kept on competing, even well after what would have been considered a normal Olympic Athlete’s prime: by the 67th Olympiad, he would have been over 40 years of age. He also attended many of the Pythian Games.

[...]

He would sometimes stand on a greased iron disk, and challenge people to push him off of it. Other sources speak of him holding a pomegranate in one hand, and daring others to take it from him. Nobody ever could, and despite him holding the fruit very tightly, it was never damaged. Another legend has it that he would train in the off years by carrying a newborn calf on his back every day until the Olympics took place. By the time the events were to take place, he was carrying a four year old cow on his back.

Amazing guy, isn’t he? Here we are training with complicated gym machinery and lead weights but this guy carried a bloody cow! I was discussing about this with my brother, and thought that with his kind of training, running around with a cow on his back, a triathlon would probably be just a walk in the park for him. Suddenly my brother asked;

Hmm. I pity the cow.

footnote:
*Roti Canai served with a dollop of condensed milk on top of it.