Milkha Singh
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Milkha
Singh was born at Layallpur, in Pakistan, on October 8, 1935. Born
in poverty, Milkha's problems were doubled after he lost his parents
in the violence following the partition of the country.
In those days there were hardly any facilities for sports training,
leave alone good coaches and rewards. Yet Milkha followed his
calling.
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Milkha was interested in athletics right from the start. While
other students in his village would trudge across to the local
school, Milkha built his stamina by running all the way.
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The young
athlete first shot to fame during the National Games at Cuttak in 1958
where he broke the 200 and 400 meters record. 1958 was also the year he
established new records in the 200 and 400 meters in the Asian games at
Tokyo and won a gold in the Commonwealth Games at Cardiff in 1958. He
was awarded the prestigious 'Padam Shri' for his excellent performance
in the same year.
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Did
you know? |
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Once,
Milkha was participating in the Indo-Pak duel meet at Lahore where
he was pitted against Asia's most celebrated athlete Abdul Khaliq of
Pakistan in the 200 meters. Khaliq had a string of victories in the
200 metres in Asia. But as the race began, Milkha outpaced the
Pakistani from the word `go' and easily won the race. The wonder
struck announcers declared that Milkha had not run but had flown.
Since that day Milkha Singh came to be known as the flying Sikh.
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Two
years later Milkha gave his finest performance at the 1960 Rome
Olympics. He was very popular with the local crowd. The moment he would
enter the stadium, people would start cheering for this bearded guy.
They had never seen an athlete with long hair and mistook Milkha for a
saint!
In the heats and the semi final of the 400 metres at the Rome Olympics
Milkha finished second. In the final, Milkha took an early lead but then
thought he was running too fast and so slowed down a bit. The decision
was wrong and soon other athletes left him behind. Still the result was
a photo finish. The winner, Ottis Davis clocked 44.8 seconds, Kaufman
finished second while Mel Spence of South Africa timed 45.5 seconds to
finish third. Milkha Singh was fourth with 45.6 seconds, a difference of
just 0.1 second from the bronze.
Still, his timing in the race was a new record for any Indian and
remained unbeaten for the next 38 years! At one time Milkha even
announced that he would give any player who beats this record a sum of 2
lakh rupees.
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Fundu Fact |
Milkha's 400 m record of 45.6 seconds (hand-timed), (later
converted into electronic time at 45.73 seconds), was erased by
Paramjeet Singh, an inspector in the Central Reserve Police
Force in 1999. The 26-year-old romped home in 45.70 seconds
electronic time (45.5 - hand time) and achieved a long standing
dream.
At first Milkha refused to recognize this performance finding
something wrong with the timing devices used - finally he agreed
to pay Paramjeet half of the 2 lakh he had promised to pay
anyone who could beat his record. The rest he promised to pay if
Paramjeet repeated his performance abroad. But record or no
record Milkha will still be one of the greatest Indian athletes
of all time. |
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Married to former international player, Nirmal, today Milkha has a
son and three daughters. His son, Chiranjeev Milkha Singh, is one of
India's top golfer and winner of the Arjuna award in that field.
Milkha Singh has donated all medals and trophies won by him to the
national sports museum at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.
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