"Flying Sikh" Milkha Singh ends his flight

The sprinter made light of personal tragedy to become one of India's most celebrated sportsmen

For more than two decades, Milkha Singh was the lone athletics icon for India. If there was a “high” to look up to or compared with, it was his feat of running in the final of the 400 metres in the 1960 Rome Olympics and his eventual fourth-place finish in a time better than the then existing Olympic record. Milkha’s life is part of Indian history rather than just athletics history, though. His “run for life” from the butchering fields of Pakistan during the traumatic partition riots of 1947, when he lost both his parents and siblings, showed a courage and determination that was bound to culminate in more fruitful and fulfilling days in life.

His life in a refugee camp in Delhi, subsequent joining of the Indian Army, at the bidding of his brother, his initiation and progress in athletics and his climb to stardom are all part of the struggle in which he strove alone.

“He always trained very hard,” recalled Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, himself an Olympic finalist in 110m hurdles, four years after Milkha made history in Rome. Milkha was a self-made athlete barring the coaching he received from the Army. For many an aspiring Olympian on the track, Milkha’s Rome Olympics record of 45.73s for the one-lap race remained a dream. Even after it was bettered 38 years later by Paramjeet Singh in Calcutta (45.70s), it proved a mountain to climb for several others.

Today, as the athletes gear up for the Tokyo Olympics, there is only one Indian, Amoj Jacob (45.68s), who has bettered that mark this season. Through the past seven years, only national-record-holder Muhammed Anas (personal best 45.21s) and Arokia Rajiv (45.37s) have clocked better. The others to have personal bests better than the Rome mark are KM Binu (45.48s), Paramjeet (45.56s) and P Ramachandran (45.63s). Six men through 61 years have performed better than Milkha!

“I clocked 45.6s in Rome, how come it is 45.73s,” Milkha used to ask this correspondent.
It was a legitimate grouse, something that may still lead to an argument. Automatic timings were not available till 1964 Olympics. Even in Tokyo, electric timings were rounded off to the next fraction and listed in tenth of a second for sprints.

Later, several such timings were adjusted as per electric timings where available or photo-finish prints that were studied by a group of experts. Such changed timings were then accepted as “official” though results would still show the tenth-of-a-second time, say 45.6 for Milkha!

Milkha, justifiably proud of his achievement, and concerned at the paucity of runners capable of breaking his record, had announced a reward of Rs one lakh for anyone who surpassed his Rome timing. Later, he increased it to two lakhs. When Paramjeet bettered his national record, Milkha expressed doubts about
the quality of equipment and officials who oversaw the technical conduct at the Calcutta National.

However, when Binu clocked 45.48s in the heats of the Athens Olympics, Milkha readily came forward to not only applaud the feat but also announced he would give away the cash award. This was Olympics, the same arena where he put his stamp of class 44 years ago. There could be no doubts. The presentation, however, never materialised.

“Such an accomplished athlete, it would have been improper on my part to pursue that cash award,” said Binu on Saturday from his home in Kochi. “Let the wait for the award end with the passing away of the legend”, he said. But the wait for the sub-45-second quarter-miler will continue. Perhaps with more vigour, if not hope, than ever before now that Indian athletics is looking to attain world fame.

“My only regret as I go (forever) would be Milkha’s sub-46 timings have remained for nearly 60 years, “the late JS Saini told me two years before he passed away at Patiala. “Our athletes are slicing hundredth of a second each time. When will they go below 45.0?” he asked. At the time of writing, at least 314 athletes had timed sub-45.0 for 400m in the all-time lists in the world. Well before he made that memorable finish in the Rome final, where he never led a segment contrary to many a myth having been created, Milkha had crept
into the hearts of the Indians by winning the Commonwealth Games 400m (440yards) in Cardiff, beating Malcolm Spence of South Africa. Known then as the Empire Games, that CWG success of Milkha remained the lone gold for India in athletics till Krishna Poonia added one in Delhi in 2010. (Spence would beat Milkha to the bronze in Rome two years after Cardiff).

Famously having turned down a life-time contribution Arjuna award in 2001, since he was clubbed with much lesser achievers, not to speak of the Government having taken more than four decades to recognise his
contribution, Milkha, also four-gold winner in the Asian Games, almost always loved to talk about his race against Pakistani Abdul Khaliq at latter’s home turf, and the victory and subsequent phone call from “Pandit Nehru”.

It was there the former Pakistan President Ayyub Khan gave him the sobriquet “Flying Sikh” Indian athletics needs to pursue the legacy of the Flying Sikh, without the aid of performance-enhancing substances, which he abhorred. Draw inspiration from the athlete who made light of personal tragedy, lack of facilities and incentives and hit international headlines through a dedicated, single-minded approach towards the task he had set for himself.

(KP Mohan is senior sports journalist)