Sardar Milkha Singh is the
greatest living Sikh Athlete. Born in a family of
modest means, joining the army and then discovering the
penchant for running and winning is his life in summation.
milkha singh at 1960 Olympics. He deservedly got an epithet
named "Flying Sikh" from Pakistan General Ayub
Khan. Till date (Until 2000 Sydney Olympics) the 'Flying
Sikh' is the only Indian to have broken an Olympic
record. Unfortunately, he was the fourth athlete to reset
the mark and thus missed the bronze medal in the 400m event
at the Rome Olympics in 1960.
following is the article reproduced from
www.rediff.com
For the man who won 77 of the 80 races he ran, Milkha
Singh has no medals. It has been some years that 'The
Flying Sikh' donated his sporting treasures to the
nation. No personal souvenirs line his living room walls, no
trophies sit on the mantle. Instead, the walls make do with
pictures of the surgeon in America who saved his wife's life
and Havildar Bikram Singh, a Kargil martyr. "I have given
permission that my medals be transferred from the Jawaharlal
Nehru stadium in New Delhi to the sports museum in Patiala,"
says the 72-year-old Singh. Strangely, the stadium gallery
lined with many of India's sporting talent does not have a
single picture of Milkha Singh. In a country where
great sportspersons are few and far between, India has a
strange way of honouring its stars.
But Milkha Singh's achievements can do without such
testimony. "The people of this country remember me. I may
have started dyeing my beard but I am recognised at
airports, railway stations -- anywhere. School textbooks
have chapters on me, and somehow the sobriquet 'The
Flying Sikh' has endured in people's memory," he says.
Singh, however, has no complaints about the recognition
given to him by the government. A Padma Shri and
Arjuna Award winner, the legendary athlete who started
his career on a Rs 10 wage went on to become director,
sports, ministry of education in the Punjab government. "I
have received more than I deserved."
It was a hard uphill climb for the refugee from Muzaffargarh
in west Pakistan. The Partition massacres of 1947 took the
lives of his parents and Singh was rejected by the army
thrice. He subsequently enrolled in the army's electrical
mechanical engineering branch in 1952 when his brother
Malkhan Singh put in a word for him, and experienced his
first sport outing at its athletics meet a fortnight later.
"That was the first time I saw a ground bedecked with
flags," reminisces Singh. "I later participated in a
crosscountry race with 300 to 400 jawans. And sat down after
the first half mile before starting again -- that was my
first race."
Determined to be the best and realising his talent as a
sprinter, the jawan took to training five hours every
day.milkha singh at 1960 Olympics Motivated by his coach
Havildar Gurdev Singh, he left it to the elements to hone
his craft -- running on the hills, the sands of the Yamuna
river, and against the speed of a metre gauge train. He says
so intense was his training that very often he vomitted
blood and would collapse in exhaustion.
Every morning Milkha Singh still goes for a jog by
the Sukhna lake in Chandigarh. Most afternoons are spent
playing golf and he uses the gym in his house regularly.
"Discipline. You have to be disciplined if you want to be
world class," he says, "That's what I tell my son Jeev.
I give him the example of Tiger Woods, and hope he would
bring the medal I couldn't." Jeev Milkha Singh,
India's best golfer, was recently awarded the Arjuna
Award and is striving to make a mark on the
international golf circuit. Whether he does manage to bring
the sporting glory that eluded his father, is yet to be
seen. Till then, it is a disappointment that Milkha Singh
will never forget. Forty years on, that failure in Rome
still haunts him. 1960. The Olympics at Rome
After clocking a world record 45.8 seconds in one of the 400
metres preliminaries in France, Sardar Milkha Singh
is the greatest living Sikh Athlete. Born in a family of
modest means, joining the army and then discovering the
penchant for running and winning is his life in summation.
He deservedly got an epithet named "Flying Sikh" from
Pakistan General Ayub Khan. Till date (Until 2000 Sydney
Olympics) the 'Flying Sikh' is the only Indian to
have broken an Olympic record. Unfortunately, he was the
fourth athlete to reset the mark and thus missed the bronze
medal in the 400m event at the Rome Olympics in 1960.
following is the article reproduced from
www.rediff.com
For the man who won 77 of the 80 races he ran, Milkha Singh
has no medals. It has been some years that 'The Flying Sikh'
donated his sporting treasures to the nation. No personal
souvenirs line his living room walls, no trophies sit on the
mantle. Instead, the walls make do with pictures of the
surgeon in America who saved his wife's life and Havildar
Bikram Singh, a Kargil martyr. "I have given permission that
my medals be transferred from the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium
in New Delhi to the sports museum in Patiala," says the
72-year-old Singh. Strangely, the stadium gallery lined with
many of India's sporting talent does not have a single
picture of Milkha Singh. In a country where great
sportspersons are few and far between, India has a strange
way of honouring its stars.
But Milkha Singh's achievements can do without such
testimony. "The people of this country remember me. I may
have started dyeing my beard but I am recognised at
airports, railway stations -- anywhere. School textbooks
have chapters on me, and somehow the sobriquet 'The Flying
Sikh' has endured in people's memory," he says. Singh,
however, has no complaints about the recognition given to
him by the government. A Padma Shri and Arjuna Award winner,
the legendary athlete who started his career on a Rs 10 wage
went on to become director, sports, ministry of education in
the Punjab government. "I have received more than I
deserved."
It was a hard uphill climb for the refugee from Muzaffargarh
in west Pakistan. The Partition massacres of 1947 took the
lives of his parents and Singh was rejected by the army
thrice. He subsequently enrolled in the army's electrical
mechanical engineering branch in 1952 when his brother
Malkhan Singh put in a word for him, and experienced his
first sport outing at its athletics meet a fortnight later.
"That was the first time I saw a ground bedecked with
flags," reminisces Singh. "I later participated in a
crosscountry race with 300 to 400 jawans. And sat down after
the first half mile before starting again -- that was my
first race."
Determined to be the best and realising his talent as a
sprinter, the jawan took to training five hours every day.
Motivated by his coach Havildar Gurdev Singh, he left it to
the elements to hone his craft -- running on the hills, the
sands of the Yamuna river, and against the speed of a metre
gauge train. He says so intense was his training that very
often he vomitted blood and would collapse in exhaustion.
Every morning Milkha Singh still goes for a jog by
the Sukhna lake in Chandigarh. Most afternoons are
spent playing golf and he uses the gym in his house
regularly. "Discipline. You have to be disciplined if you
want to be world class," he says, "That's what I tell my son
Jeev. I give him the example of Tiger Woods, and hope
he would bring the medal I couldn't." Jeev Milkha Singh,
India's best golfer, was recently awarded the Arjuna
Award and is striving to make a mark on the
international golf circuit. Whether he does manage to bring
the sporting glory that eluded his father, is yet to be
seen. Till then, it is a disappointment that Milkha Singh
will never forget. Forty years on, that failure in Rome
still haunts him. 1960. The Olympics at Rome
After clocking a world record 45.8 seconds in one of the 400
metres preliminaries in France, Milkha Singh finished fourth
in a photofinish in the Olympics final. The favourite for
gold had missed the bronze. By a fraction... "Since it was a
photofinish, the announcements were held up. The suspense
was excruciating. I knew what my fatal error was: After
running perilously fast in lane five, I slowed down at 250
metres. I could not cover the lost ground after that -- and
that cost me the race." "After the death of my parents, that
is my worst memory," says Singh, "I kept crying for days."
Dejected by his defeat, he made up his mind to give up
sport. It was after much persuasion that he took to
athletics again. Two years later, Milkha Singh won two
medals at the 1962 Asian Games. But by then his golden
period was over.
It was between 1958 and 1960 that Milkha Singh saw the
height of glory. From setting a new record in the 200 and
400 metres at the Cuttack National Games, he won two gold
medals at the Asian Games at Tokyo. The lean Sikh went on to
win gold at the Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, and was
awarded the Helms trophy or being the best athlete in 1959.
Three years before the Indo-Pak war of 1965, Milkha Singh
ran that one race which made President Ayub Khan christen
him 'The Flying Sikh.' His defeat of Pakistan's leading
athlete and winner of the 100 metres gold at the Tokyo Asiad,
Abdul Khaliq, earned him India's bestknown sports sobriquet.
"It has stuck since," he adds.
Thirtysix years later, Britain's Ann Packer remembers him
too. This time for his camaraderie. Jittery about her
performance in the 800 metres against formidable French
German and Hungarian athletes in the Tokyo Olympics in 1964,
Packer clearly remembered her encounter with Singh in the
lift they shared on the day of her event. 'Ann you vill
win,' she recounted Singh's words to a The Sunday Times
journalist at her home in Cheshire recently. And vin she
did. Packer clocked 2min 1.1 sec and set a new world record.
Singh was among the first to congratulate her.
There are many who still congratulate Milkha Singh. "Sirji,
I remember seeing you when I was a young recruit in the
army," said Gairwar Singh as he chanced upon the former
athlete getting into his car outside the Chandigarh Golf
Club. Elated that Singh stops to shake hands with him,
Gairwar Singh -- now a driver with a transport company in
Delhi -- tells him about his interest in wrestling. "It is
appreciation from the people that helps me go ahead at this
age," Singh had earlier said at his home in Sector 8,
Chandigarh. With two of his daughters married and one away
in the United States, and his son travelling around the
world regularly -- Singh says he enjoys the tranquility.
Last year, he adopted the seven-year-old son of Havildar
Bikram Singh who died in the Battle for Tiger Hill. The
child is at a boarding school and Singh has taken on the
responsibility of bringing him up.
"We owe it to those who have died for the honour of our
country," he says, "Unlike our cricketers who have sold our
country." Deeply disappointed with these ambassadors of
India's most popular game, he firmly believes the guilty
should be punished. "They cannot mock the aspirations of an
entire nation," says Singh surveying the debris of many a
fallen sporting icon.
Decades after he hung up his running shoes, one thing is for
sure -- the Flying Sikh still stands tall. 'He has been a
great source of inspiration' finished fourth in a
photofinish in the Olympics final. The favourite for gold
had missed the bronze. By a fraction... "Since it was a
photofinish, the announcements were held up. The suspense
was excruciating. I knew what my fatal error was: After
running perilously fast in lane five, I slowed down at 250
metres. I could not cover the lost ground after that -- and
that cost me the race." "After the death of my parents, that
is my worst memory," says Singh, "I kept crying for days."
Dejected by his defeat, he made up his mind to give up
sport. It was after much persuasion that he took to
athletics again. Two years later, Milkha Singh won
two medals at the 1962 Asian Games. But by then his golden
period was over.
It was between 1958 and 1960 that Milkha Singh saw
the height of glory. From setting a new record in the 200
and 400 metres at the Cuttack National Games, he won two
gold medals at the Asian Games at Tokyo. The lean Sikh went
on to win gold at the Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, and was
awarded the Helms trophy or being the best athlete in 1959.
Three years before the Indo-Pak war of 1965, Milkha Singh
ran that one race which made President Ayub Khan christen
him 'The Flying Sikh.' His defeat of Pakistan's leading
athlete and winner of the 100 metres gold at the Tokyo Asiad,
Abdul Khaliq, earned him India's best known sports
sobriquet. "It has stuck since," he adds.
Thirtysix years later, Britain's Ann Packer remembers him
too. This time for his camaraderie. Jittery about her
performance in the 800 metres against formidable French
German and Hungarian athletes in the Tokyo Olympics in 1964,
Packer clearly remembered her encounter with Singh in the
lift they shared on the day of her event. 'Ann you vill
win,' she recounted Singh's words to a The Sunday Times
journalist at her home in Cheshire recently. And vin she
did. Packer clocked 2min 1.1 sec and set a new world record.
Singh was among the first to congratulate her.
There are many who still congratulate Milkha Singh. "Sirji,
I remember seeing you when I was a young recruit in the
army," said Gairwar Singh as he chanced upon the former
athlete getting into his car outside the Chandigarh Golf
Club. Elated that Singh stops to shake hands with him,
Gairwar Singh -- now a driver with a transport company in
Delhi -- tells him about his interest in wrestling. "It is
appreciation from the people that helps me go ahead at this
age," Singh had earlier said at his home in Sector 8,
Chandigarh. With two of his daughters married and one away
in the United States, and his son travelling around the
world regularly -- Singh says he enjoys the tranquility.
Last year, he adopted the seven-year-old son of Havildar
Bikram Singh who died in the Battle for Tiger Hill. The
child is at a boarding school and Singh has taken on the
responsibility of bringing him up.
"We owe it to those who have died for the honour of our
country," he says, "Unlike our cricketers who have sold our
country." Deeply disappointed with these ambassadors of
India's most popular game, he firmly believes the guilty
should be punished. "They cannot mock the aspirations of an
entire nation," says Singh surveying the debris of many a
fallen sporting icon.
Decades after he hung up his running shoes, one thing is for
sure -- the Flying Sikh still stands tall. 'He has
been a great source of inspiration'