Milkha Singh

Milkha Singh was born on 20 November 1929 in a Sikh Rathore family in Punjab, undivided India. He was one of the total 15 children of his parents. Many of his siblings passed away during childhood. Milkha Singh lost his parents and siblings in the riots that followed the Partition of India. 

He eventually became a refugee and came to Delhi from Pakistan by train. In Delhi, he stayed for a few days at his sister's house. 

After staying in the refugee camps for some time, he also lived in a restored settlement in Shahdara area of ​​Delhi. After such a terrible accident, his heart was deeply hurt.

 At the behest of his brother Malkhan, he decided to join the army and after a fourth attempt, joined the army in 1951. 

In his childhood, he ran a 10-kilometer distance from home to school and from home to school and came sixth in the cross-country race at the time of recruitment, so the Army selected him for special training in sports. 

Careerr as a runner 

In the army, he worked hard and established himself in 200m and 400m and achieved success in many competitions. 

He represented India in the 200 and 400 meters at the 1956 Merlbönen Olympic Games but did not succeed due to lack of experience at the international level but his meeting with Charles Jenkins, the winner of the 400 meters competition, not only inspired him but also the training Also exposed to new ways.

 After this, in 1958 at the National Games held in Cuttack, he set a national record in the 200m and 400m competition and also won the gold medal in both the events in the Asian Games. 

He had another significant success in 1958 when he won a gold medal in the 400 meters competition at the British Commonwealth Games. He thus became the first player from independent India to win a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games individual event. 

After this, in 1960, he famously called Pakistan's famous runner Abdul Basit in Pakistan, after which General Ayub Khan called him 'Udan Sikh'. Rome Olympic Games, 1960 A few years before the start of the Rome Olympic Games, Milkha was in the best form of his sporting life and it was believed that Milkha would definitely get medals in these games. Shortly before the Rome Games, Milkha also scored a record 45.8 seconds in France. 

In the 400 races, Milkha Singh broke the former Olympic record, but definitely missed the medal by finishing fourth. Milkha, who was at the forefront of the race for 250 meters, made a mistake that he still regrets. He felt that he might not be able to keep himself at the same pace till the end and turned back to look at his opponents, whose brunt he had to suffer and the runner who hoped for gold could not even win the bronze. 

Milkha is still proud of that. Singh was so disappointed with this failure that he made up his mind to retire from the race, but after much persuasion, he returned to the field again.

 After this, Milkha won the gold medal in the 400 meters and 4 x 400 meters relay race at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta. He competed in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games and was selected to compete in three events (400m, 4X100m relay and 4X400m relay) but he competed in the 4X 400m relay but this team finals Could not even qualify for the race. 

Nationall record set by Milkha in Rome Olympics was broken in 1998 by runner Paramjit Singh. 

later life 

After the success of the 1958 Asian Games, the Army honored Milkha by promoting him as a 'Junior Commissioned Officer' and later the Punjab Government appointed him to the post of 'Sports Director' in the Education Department of the state. Milkha retired in 1998 in the same position. In 1958, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri, but Milkha refused the 'Arjuna Award' by the Government of India in 2001. Milkha Singh named all the medals won in his life to the nation. 

He was initially housed in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium but was later shifted to a sports museum in Patiala. In 2012, he gave away the shoes worn at the Rome Olympics 400m race at a charity auction. In 2013, 

Milkha wrote his autobiography 'The Race of My Life' along with her daughter Sonia Sanvalka. Inspired by this book, the famous director of Hindi films Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra made a film called 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'. In this film, Milkha was played by famous actor Farhan Akhtar. private life Milkha Singh married Nirmal Kaur, former Indian women's volleyball captain, in 1962. He met Kaur in 1955 in Sri Lanka. He has three daughters and a son. His son Jeev Milkha Singh is a famous golf player. In 1999,

 Milkha adopted the seven-year-old son of Shaheed Havildar Bikram Singh. Milkha currently lives in Chandigarh city