milkha singh

milkha singh

Born
October 1935 (age 78)
Govindpura, Punjab, British India
Residence
Chandigarh , India
Nationality
Indian
Other names
The Flying Sikh
Occupation
Track and field athlete
Employer
Retired; formerly of the Indian Army and
Government of Punjab, India
Religion
Sikh
Spouse(s)
Nirmal Kaur
Olympic medal record
Men's Athletics
Competitor for IND
British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Gold
1958 Cardiff
440 yards
Asian Games
Gold
1958 Tokyo
200 m
Gold
1958 Tokyo
400 m
Gold
1962 Jakarta
400 m
Gold
1962 Jakarta
4 x 400 m relay
Milkha Singh (born 17 october 1935), also known
as The Flying Sikh , is a former Indian track and
field sprinter who was introduced to the sport
while serving in the Indian Army. As of 2013, he is
the only Indian male athlete to win an individual
athletics gold medal at a Commonwealth Games .
He represented India in the 1956 Summer
Olympics in Melbourne , the 1960 Summer
Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Summer Olympics
in Tokyo. He was awarded the Padma Shri , India's
fourth-highest civilian honour, in recognition of his
sporting achievements.
The race for which Singh is best remembered is
his fourth-place finish in the 400 metres final at
the 1960 Olympic Games, which he had entered as
one of the favourites. He led the race for some
time before easing off, allowing others to pass him.
Various records were broken in the race, which
required a photo-finish and saw American Otis
Davis being declared the winner by one-hundredth
of a second over German Carl Kaufmann . Singh's
fourth-place time of 45.73 became the Indian
national record and held for almost 40 years.
From beginnings that saw him orphaned and
displaced during the Partition of India , Singh has
become a sporting icon in his country. In 2008,
journalist Rohit Brijnath described Singh as "the
finest athlete India has ever produced". [1] In July
2012, The Independent said that "India's most
revered Olympian is a gallant loser" and noted the
paucity of success — 20 medals — achieved by
Indian competitors in the Olympic Games despite
the country having a population in excess of one
billion. [2]
Early life
Milkha Singh was born on 20 November 1929
according to records in Pakistan, [3] although other
official records various state 17 October 1935 [4]
and 20 November 1935. [5] His birthplace was
Govindpura, [6] a village 10 kilometres (6.2 mi)
from Muzaffargarh city in Punjab Province , British
India (now Muzaffargarh District , Pakistan ) in a
Sikh Rathore Rajput family. [7] He was one of 15
siblings, eight of whom died before the Partition of
India. He was orphaned during the Partition, when
his parents, a brother and two sisters were killed
in the violence that ensued. He witnessed these
killings. [1][6][8][9]
Escaping the troubles in Punjab, where killings of
Hindus and Sikhs were continuing, [8] by moving to
Delhi , India, in 1947, Singh lived for a short time
with a married sister[6] and was briefly imprisoned
at Tihar jail for travelling on a train without a
ticket. His sister, Ishvar, sold some jewellery to
obtain his release. [9][10] He spent some time at a
refugee camp in Purana Quila and at a resettlement
colony in Shahdara , both in Delhi. [6]
Singh became disenchanted with his life and
considered becoming a dacoit [a] but was instead
persuaded by a brother, Malkhan, to attempt
recruitment to the Indian Army. He successfully
gained entrance on his fourth attempt, in 1951, and
while stationed at the Electrical Mechanical
Engineering Centre[11] in Secunderabad he was
introduced to athletics. He had run the 10 km
distance to and from school as a child and was
selected by the army for special training in
athletics after finishing sixth in a compulsory
cross-country run for new recruits. [8][9] Singh
has acknowledged how the army introduced him to
sport, saying that "I came from a remote village, I
didn't know what running was, or the Olympics". [1]
[8]
International career
He represented India in the 200m and 400m
competitions of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic
Games. [12] His inexperience meant that he did not
progress from the heat stages but a meeting with
the eventual 400m champion at those Games,
Charles Jenkins, both inspired him to greater
things and provided him with information about
training methods. [1]
In 1958, Singh set records for the 200m and 400m
in the National Games of India , held at Cuttack, [11]
and also won gold medals in the same events at
the Asian Games . He then won a gold medal in the
400m (440 yards at this time) competition at the
1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
with a time of 46.6 seconds. [10] This latter
achievement made him the first gold medalist at
the Commonwealth Games from independent India.
[9] As of 2013, he is still the only male Indian to
have won an individual athletics gold medal at
those Games. [13]
Singh was persuaded by Jawaharlal Nehru to set
aside his memories of the Partition era to race
successfully in 1960 against Abdul Khaliq in
Pakistan, where a post-race comment by the then
General Ayub Khan led to him acquiring the
nickname of The Flying Sikh . [b] Some sources say
that he set a world record of 45.8 seconds in
France, [11] shortly before the Rome Olympics in
the same year but the official report of the Games
lists the record holder as Lou Jones , who ran 45.2
at Los Angeles in 1956. [4] At those Olympics, he
was involved in a close-run final race in the 400m
competition, where he was placed fourth. [8][9]
Singh had beaten all the leading contenders other
than Otis Davis, and a medal had been anticipated
because of his good form. However, he made an
error when leading the race at 250m, slowing
down in the belief that his pace could not be
sustained and looking round at his fellow
competitors. Singh believes that these errors
caused him to lose his medal opportunity and they
are his "worst memory". [11] Davis, Carl Kaufmann
and Malcolm Spence all passed him, and a photo-
finish resulted. Davis and Kaufman were both
timed at a world-record breaking 44.9 seconds,
while Spence and Singh went under the pre-
Games Olympic record of 45.9 seconds, set in
1952 by George Rhoden and Herb McKenley , with
times of 45.5 and 45.6 seconds, respectively. [4]
[10] The Age noted in 2006 that "Milkha Singh is
the only Indian to have broken an Olympic track
record. Unfortunately he was the fourth man to do
so in the same race" [14] but the official Olympic
report notes that Davis had already equalled the
Rhoden/McKenley Olympic record in the quarter-
finals and surpassed it with a time of 45.5 seconds
in the semi-finals. [4]
At the 1962 Asian Games , held in Jakarta , Singh
won gold in the 400m [10] and in the 4 x 400m
relay . [15] He attended the 1964 Olympic Games in
Tokyo, where he was entered to compete in the
400m, the 4 x 100m relay and the 4 x 400m relay.
[5] He did not take part in either the 400m [16] or
the 4 x 100m relay [c] and the Indian team of
Milkha Singh, Makhan Singh , Amrit Pal and Ajmer
Singh were eliminated when they finished fourth in
the heat stages of the 4 x 400m. [18]
There have been claims that Singh won 77 of his
80 races, [11] but these are spurious. The number
of races in which he participated is not verified,
nor is the number of victories, but he lost a 400m
race at the 1962 National Games in Calcutta to
Makhan Singh [19] and he did not finish first in any
of his four races at the 1960 Olympic Games[4] or
the aforementioned qualification races at the 1956
Olympics.
Singh's time in the 1960 Olympics 400m final,
which was run on a cinder track, set a national
record that stood until 1998 when Paramjit Singh
exceeded it on a synthetic track and with fully
automatic timing that recorded 45.70 seconds.
Although Singh's Olympic result of 45.6 seconds
had been hand-timed, an electronic system at
those Games had determined his record to be
45.73. [20]
Later life
Milkha Singh was promoted from the rank of sepoy
to junior commissioned officer in recognition of his
successes in the 1958 Asian Games. [21][d] He
subsequently became Director of Sports in the
Punjab Ministry of Education , [11] from which post
he had retired by 1998. [20]
Singh had been awarded the Padma Shri following
his success in 1958. In 2001, he turned down an
offer of the Arjuna Award from the Indian
government, arguing that it was intended to
recognise young sportspeople and not those such
as him. He also thought that the Award was being
inappropriately given to people who had little
notable involvement as active sports people at all.
He said that "I have been clubbed with
sportspersons who are nowhere near the level that
I had achieved" and that the award had become
devalued. [22][23]
All of Singh's medals have been donated to the
nation. They were displayed at the Jawaharlal
Nehru Stadium in New Delhi but later moved to a
sports museum in Patiala , [11] where a pair of
running shoes that he wore in Rome are also
displayed. [24] In 2012, he donated the Adidas
shoes that he had worn in the 1960 400m final to
a charity auction organised by actor Rahul Bose .
[25]
Singh and his daughter, Sonia Sanwalka, co-wrote
his autobiography, titled The Race of My Life. [26]
The book inspired Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, a 2013
biographical film of Singh's life. [27][28][29] Singh
sold the movie rights for one rupee but inserted a
clause stating that a share of the profits would be
given to the Milkha Singh Charitable Trust. [8] The
Trust was founded in 2003 with the aim of
assisting poor and needy sportspeople. [30]
Family
As of 2012, Singh lives in Chandigarh. [25] He met
Nirmal Kaur, a former captain of the Indian
women's volleyball team in Ceylon in 1955 and the
couple married in 1962. [6] They have three
daughters and a son, Jeev Milkha Singh . In 1999,
they adopted the seven-year old son of Havildar
Bikram Singh, who had died in the Battle of Tiger
Hill . [11]
Awards and achievements
Gold Medal – 1958 Commonwealth Games –
400 m
Gold Medal – 1958 Asian Games – 200 m and
400 m
Gold Medal – 1962 Asian Games
Padma Shri – 1959
References
Notes
1. ^ Paan Singh Tomar, one of Singh's
contemporaries in the Indian Army and as an
athlete, did become infamous as a dacoit. [6]
2. ^ On Singh's 1960 victory over Abdul Khaliq
in Pakistan, Ayub Khan, then President of
Pakistan, told Singh that "You didn't run
today, you flew". [8]
3. ^ The Indian 4 x 100m relay competitors at
the 1964 Olympic Games were Anthony
Coutinho, Makhan Singh, Kenneth Powell and
Rajasekaran Pichaya in both the heats and
semi-final, where they were eliminated from
the competition. [17]
4. ^ Promotion in recognition of bringing glory
to the nation continues today. Some
cricketers attain the rank of honorary colonel
and in 2012 Singh was outspoken in his
desire to see promotion for Vijay Kumar ,
who had won a silver medal at the 2012
London Olympics . [21]
Citations
1. ^ a b c d Brijnath, Rohit (30 July 2008). "The
'Flying Sikh' remembers" . BBC News.
Retrieved 12 July 2013.
2. ^ "Opening week's action at the Games... and
what to expect"
. The Independent. 29 July 2012. Retrieved
14 July 2013.
3. ^ Nair, Avinash (22 November 2013).
"Flashback with the Flying Sikh" . The Hindu.
Retrieved 14 April 2014.
4. ^ a b c d e "The XVII Olympiad Rome 1960 –
The Official Report of the Organizing
Committee"
2. Organizing Committee of the Games of the
XVII Olympiad. pp. 76–80. Retrieved 17 July
2013.
5. ^ a b "The XVIII Olympiad Tokyo 1964 – The
Official Report of the Organizing Committee"
1. Organizing Committee of the Games of the
XVIII Olympiad. p. 596. Retrieved 17 July
2013.
6. ^ a b c d e f D'Souza, Dipti Nagpaul (23 June
2013). "Will over matter" . The Financial
Express. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
7. ^ "Milkha Singh - The making of a legend" .
Sify.com. 12 July 2013. Retrieved 15 March
2014.
8. ^ a b c d e f g Koshie, Nihal (30 June 2013).
"'If Milkha Singh was born in present times,
no one would be able to break his record in
100 yrs'"
. Indian Express. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
9. ^ a b c d e Sharma, Aabhas (5 July 2013).
"India's first celebrity athlete" . Business
Standard. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
10. ^ a b c d Ezekiel, Gulu (30 July 2005). "The
Flying Sikh's Exploits" . The Hindu. Retrieved
13 July 2013.
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Masih, Archana (September
2000). "Milkha Singh ... on the race of his
life" . Rediff. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
12. ^ "The XVI Olympiad Melbourne 1956 – The
Official Report of the Organizing Committee"
. Organizing Committee of the Games of the
XVI Olympiad. pp. 287, 290. Retrieved 17
July 2013.
13. ^ Ananthanarayanan, N. (13 July 2013),
Milkha Singh: the man who never gave up,
Hindustan Times, retrieved 14 July 2013
14. ^ Coulter, Michael (12 August 2006). "Great
sporting Sikhs" . The Age. Retrieved 14 July
2013.
15. ^ "Makhan Singh dead" . The Hindu. 23
January 2002. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
16. ^ "The XVIII Olympiad Tokyo 1964 – The
Official Report of the Organizing Committee"
2. Organizing Committee of the Games of the
XVIII Olympiad. pp. 25–26. Retrieved 17 July
2013.
17. ^ "The XVIII Olympiad Tokyo 1964 – The
Official Report of the Organizing Committee"
2. Organizing Committee of the Games of the
XVIII Olympiad. pp. 48, 50. Retrieved 17 July
2013.
18. ^ "The XVIII Olympiad Tokyo 1964 – The
Official Report of the Organizing Committee"
2. Organizing Committee of the Games of the
XVIII Olympiad. p. 51. Retrieved 17 July
2013.
19. ^ Bhattal, Amardeep (21 January 2002).
"Makhan Singh dead" . The Tribune.
Retrieved 13 July 2013.
20. ^ a b Pritam, Norris (6 November 1998). "38
Year Old Indian Record Falls" . IAAF.
Retrieved 17 July 2013.
21. ^ a b Kahol, Vikas (9 August 2012). "Milkha
Singh backs promotion for silver medallist
armyman"
. India Today. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
22. ^ "Milkha Singh not to accept Arjuna Award" .
The Tribune. 16 August 2001. Retrieved 13
July 2013.
23. ^ Jolly, Asit (16 August 2001). "'Flying Sikh'
snubs award" . BBC News. Retrieved 13 July
2013.
24. ^ "Milkha Singh donates Olympic shoes for
charity auction"
. The Times of India. PTI. 24 January 2012.
Retrieved 15 July 2013.
25. ^ a b "Milkha Singh gives his 1960 Olympics
shoes for charity"
. Mid-Day. 23 January 2012. Retrieved 15
July 2013.
26. ^ "Milkha Singh: ‘My God, my religion, my
beloved’"
. Livemint/Hindustan Times. 10 July 2013.
Retrieved 15 July 2013.
27. ^ "I don't know how much people know
about Milkha Singh: Farhan Akhtar"
. Hindustan Times. 12 July 2013. Retrieved
15 July 2013.
28. ^ "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag Picks Up Well on Day
One"
. Box Office India. 12 July 2013. Retrieved 13
July 2013.
29. ^ Ramnath, Nandini (1 July 2013). "When
Milkha Singh ran for his life" . Livemint/
Hindustan Times. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
30. ^ "The Race of My Life: An Autobiography" .
Rupa Publications. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
External links
"Transcript of a webchat" . Rediff. 22 August
2001.
"Video of Singh in the closing stages of the 440
yards (400m) race, 1958 British Empire &
Commonwealth Games"