Milkha Singh

He met Nirmal kaur, the captain of the Indian women’s volleyball team in 1955 and married her in 1962. The couple has three daughters and one son. His son Jeev Milkha Singh is a famous golfer.

In 1999, the couple adopted the seven year old son of a soldier who died in the Battle of Tiger Hill.

Milkha Singh has donated all his medals to the nation which were first displayed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi before being moved to a sports museum in Patiala.

He was born into a Sikh Rathore Rajput family in Punjab, in undivided India during the pre-independence days. He was one of 15 siblings, many of whom died during childhood.

The partition of Indian happened when he was still a teenager. In the violence that ensued, he witnessed the killings of his parents and several siblings before his very eyes. His father, as he lay dying told Milkha to run for his life.

Hindus and Sikhs were targeted and mercilessly killed in Punjab. He escaped to Delhi in 1947. Thankfully he had a married sister living there who helped him in his rehabilitation.

He was very heart broken and disillusioned after losing so many members of his family and he considered becoming a dacoit. However, one of his brothers advised him to join the army instead.

He tried to join the army thrice but was rejected. Finally he got selected in his fourth attempt. In 1951, he was stationed at the Electrical Mechanical Engineering Centre in Secunderabad and that’s when he was introduced to athletics.

As a young boy living in a rural place, he had the habit of running the 10 km distance to reach his school. His early habit of running helped him finish sixth in a compulsory cross-country run for new recruits. He was selected by the army for special training in athletics.

Realizing that he had potential, Milkha was determined to become the best he could. He started training five hours daily, often running in difficult terrains like the hills, the sands on the bank of rivers, and against a meter gauge train. His training was sometimes so intense that he would be sick with fatigue.

He was chosen to represent India in the 200m and 400m races in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. At that time he was so raw that he could not progress beyond the initial stage. However his acquaintance with the 400m champion at the event, Charles Jenkins, gave him knowledge about proper training methods, and thus inspired him to do better next time.

He participated in the National Games of India in Cuttack in 1958 where he set national records for the 200m and 400m. The same year he won a gold medal in the 400m competition at the Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, making him the first male Indian to have won an individual athletics gold medal at those Games.

In the year 1958 alone, he won many major events. He won the Gold medals in the 200m and 400m competitions at the Asian Games and Gold at the 440 yards event in Commonwealth Games.

He was given the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award, in 1959 for his glorious achievements in the field of sports.

He won Gold medals in 400m and 4x400m relay in 1962 Asian Games.