PT Usha says why Milkha Singh continues to inspire India's Olympic medal quest in athletics
PT Usha also revealed that the late Milkha Singh used to call her ‘beti’ or daughter.
Milkha Singh may have died but his memories will continue to fuel India’s quest for its maiden Olympic medal in athletics, believes Indian track and field queen PT Usha.
PT Usha also urged young Indian athletes to emulate the legendary Flying Sikh’s famous work ethic in a bid to end India’s athletics medal drought at the Summer Games.
“An Olympic medal in athletics is still a dream for India. Milkha Singh remains the guiding force for young athletes to achieve that goal,” PT Usha told Outlook India.
“Facing such hardships and with few resources and facilities, if Milkha could reach 1/10th second away from the Olympic medal, why can’t the young generation win an Olympic medal when they have everything at its disposal,” wondered Usha.
PT Usha, though, said she has full faith that an Olympic gold in athletics will come India’s way sooner than later.
Incidentally, PT Usha and Milkha Singh are the two Indian athletes to have come closest to an athletics Olympic medal.
While PT Usha missed the 400m hurdles bronze medal by 1/100th of a second at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Milkha Singh fell short by 1/10th of a second in the 400m sprint at the Rome Olympics in 1960.
The Payyoli Express, as PT Usha is fondly called, considers Milkha Singh’s 1960 Olympic run as one of Indian athletics’ landmark moments.
“My favourite, of course, is his Olympics performance. Has anyone showcased such a performance even after 50 years? Today, we have all the facilities and foreign training available. Even then, such a performance is not seen in our country,” PT Usha lamented.
It was at a junior international meet in Seoul in 1982 when Usha had met Milha Singh for the first time. While Usha was a competitor, Milkha Singh was the Chef de Mission (leader of the Indian delegation) there.
“I was very young and I was not well-versed in Hindi. He was very formal and would ask us to perform well. Whenever we met, he would either call me PT or ‘beti’ (daughter). He never called me Usha,” the three-time Olympian from Kerala reminisced.
“He used to tell me that racing on the Indian track alone won’t help to win international competitions. He would ask me to participate more in international events to gain experience on foreign tracks,” PT Usha added.
Milkha Singh died earlier this month after a prolonged battle with COVID-19.