10 best Indian athletics competitors of all time

Many Indians have done exceedingly well in multi-disciplinary sporting events over the years. Some of them endured a tough childhood to emerge victorious on the biggest stage in the world of sports. Some of them extended their good run in the nationals to international events, while some created new records on their way to the top of the podium.

#10 Sunita Rani

Sunita Rani won gold in 1500 m and a bronze medal in the 5000 m during the Busan Asian Games in 2002. She set a time of 4:06.03 in the 1500 m, which remains a national record to the day.

Awards:

Arjuna award

Padma Shri

#9 Joseph Abraham

Abraham is the first Indian male athlete to go past the first round in the Osaka World Athletics Championships when he reached the semifinals in the 400m hurdles in 2007. He also holds the national record of 49.51 seconds which was set during the same event.

He won bronze in the 2007 Asian Athletics Championships in Amman. He improved it to a silver in 2009 in Guangzhou.

His best result came at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games where he clinched gold with a timing of 49.96 seconds. He thus became the first Indian to win individual gold in the history of the Asian games.

#8 Saraswati Saha

She holds the current national record of 22.82 seconds in 200 m event which she set at the National Circuit Athletic Meet held in Ludhiana in 2002.

She won gold at the 2002 Busan Asian Games.

Awards:

Arjuna award – 2002

#7 Ajmer Singh

Ajmer competed in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He won two medals in the 1966 Asian games in Bangkok – gold in the 400 m event and a silver in the 200 m.

Ajmer had a very tough childhood having lost his mother when he was still very young. He had knocking knees as a growing up child, and yet he became Asian champion in sprinting, and an Olympian athlete.

#6 Preeja Sreedharan

Preeja holds the national record in both 5000 m and 10000 m. She won silver at the 2007 Athletic Championships in Amman. Her personal best for the 10,000 metres is 31:50:28 minutes in 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

She won two medals in Guangzhou – gold in the 10000 m and a silver in the 5000 m events.

Awards:

Arjuna award – 2011

#5 Lavy Pinto

Lavy Pinto is the first Indian to win a gold medal in the Asian Games in the inaugural edition in New Delhi in 1951. He won gold in the 100 m, 200 m and a silver in the 4 X 100 m relay.

He also took part in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

#4 Jyotirmoyee Sikdar

Sikdar’s first international success came at the Jakarta Asian Championships in 1995 where she won gold in the 800 m event. She followed it up with two bronze medals at the 1998 Fukuoka Asian Championships in 800 m and 1500 m.

She was at her best in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games as she clinched gold in both the 800 m and 1500 m.

Awards:

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna – 1998-99

Padma Shri – 2003

#3 Anju Bobby George

She is the first Indian athlete to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships when she won bronze in long jump in Paris in 2003. She won gold in the IAAF World Athletics final in 2005.

Anju won a gold and a silver respectively at the Asian Championships in 2005 and 2007. She won gold at the 2002 Busan Asian Games and had to settle for silver in the next edition in Doha in 2006.

Awards:

Arjuna award – 2002-03

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna – 2003-04

Padma Shri – 2004

#2 P T Usha

Usha is known as the “queen of Indian track & field”. She became the first Indian woman to reach the final of an Olympic event in Moscow in 1980. Her record in the Asian games is an impressive one.

1982 New Delhi – Silver – 100 m; Silver – 200 m .

1986 Seoul – Gold – 200 m; Gold – 400 m; Gold – 400 m; Gold – 4 X 400 m relay hurdles; Silver – 100 m.

1990 Beijing – Silver – 400 m; Silver – 4 X 100 m relay.

1994 Hiroshima – Silver – 4 X 400 m relay.

She also competed in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Awards:

Arjuna award – 1984

Padma Shri – 1984

#1 Milkha Singh

Known as the Flying Sikh, Milkha Singh lost his parents during the violence that took place at the time of India's partition with Pakistan. He was also imprisoned for travelling without a ticket in a train and his sister bailed him out by selling some jewellery.

He was fed up with life at one point and considered turning into a dacoit, but his brother Malkhan asked him to apply for the India Army.

He learnt a lot during his stint with the army and took up running. Singh took part in both the 200 m and the 400m events at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, but did not qualify for the finals. He took positives out of the games and became the first Indian to win gold at the Commonwealth Games in 1958 Cardiff games.

At the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games, he won gold in both 200 m and 400 m. He finished fourth in the 1960 Rome Olympics.

He won two gold medals at the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games in the 400 m and the 4 X 400m relay.He received the title of “Flying Sikh” during a 200 m friendly race in Pakistan.

Singh and his daughter co-wrote his autobiography The Race of my life in 2013. The book inspired the movie Bhaag Milkha Bhaag starring Farhan Akhtar in the lead role.

Awards:

Padma Shri – 1959

Edited by Staff Editor