5 greatest Indian athletes who have never won an Olympic medal

Milkha Singh

Known as the Flying Sikh, he overcame the horrors of Partition to do the country proud

The ‘Flying Sikh’, Milkha Singh was an Indian athletics icon for a number of reasons. The first ever Indian to win individual athletics gold at the Commonwealth Games, Singh remained the only Indian athlete to do so for the next five decades.

He had his biggest successes at the Asian Games, winning five gold medals over two Games, with two of those medals coming the same year as his pathbreaking Commonwealth Games medal win.

Milkha Singh represented India at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, and the two Olympics after it – Rome in 1960, and Tokyo in 1964, with his best results on the Olympic stage coming in Rome.

Entering the tournament as its likely winner, Milkha Singh ran in the 400m in Rome, and was literally the frontrunner until the 200m mark, when he appeared to lose momentum. He would eventually lose his lead and a front row finish, completing the event in 4th place, just shy of a medal.

Although he set a national record with his finishing time, Singh missed out on what would be his closest shot at an Olympic medal.