Milkha Singh is the most appreciated athlete India has ever produced. The interesting thing about his life is that he spent his childhood years in a village. He is also known as Milky Singh (born on 8 October 1935), who represented India in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Olympics.
His athletic career began when he joined the army at the age of 18. Here he paid special attention to athletics and started training himself for 400-metre race on tracks. All this did not go in vain. He was able to establish two new records in 400-metre and 200-metre races.
Milkha Singh represented India in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where his inexperience showed. Thereafter, he won gold medals in both the 200m and 400m events at the 1958 Asian Games, clocking 21.6 seconds and 47 seconds respectively. He progressed to win a gold medal in the 400m competition at the 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games, with a time of 46.16 seconds. This latter achievement made him the first gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games from independent India.
Subsequently, he competed in Pakistan and his successes there earned him the nickname of The Flying Sikh.
At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, he finished second in all of his 400m races prior to the final,improving his time on each occasion. In the final event he set off strongly to the fore but was overhauled by the field and finished in fourth place, this being a decision that required a photo-finish. His time was 45.6 seconds and his finishing position was not bettered by an Indian track athlete until the 1984 Olympics, when P.T. Usha missed out on the 400 m hurdles bronze medal by 1/100th of a second.
He is married to the former captain of the Indian Women Volleyball team, Nirmal Kaur.
Awards and achievements
- Gold medal - 1958 Asian Games in the 200 m and 400 m.
- Gold medal - 1962 Asian Games.
- 1959, awarded the Padma Shri
Hindi Film Director and Actor Farhan Akhtar making a film on his life named as "Bhag Milkha Bhag".Here's the trailor of the movie.
