P. T. Usha

The full name of P.T. Usha is Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha. She was born in a small village called Payyoli near Kozhikode on 27th June 1964. She was the first Indian woman and the flfth Indian to reach the final of an Olympic event. She is called the Sprint Queen of India. She is also called the 'Golden Girl' because she has won a large number of gold medals.

P. T. Usha

    The Kerala government had started a sports school at Cannanore where P.T.Usha got admission after schooling. There she met Mr. O.P. Nambiar who shaped her as an athlete. She became a member of staff of the Southern Railway. The railways provided her with all facilities for her sports training. In fact, even after her retirement from active sports, the railways arranged for her journey to Sydney to watch the 2000 Olympic extravaganza.

    She wants to establish a sports school in Koyilandi – ‘The Usha School of Athletics’. "It is a Rs. 5 million project", she says. It is her dream project. Her only dream now is that the school should get an Olympiad medal in the ensuing Olympic Games. This school needs a lot of funds and she is searching for sponsors. She has already submitted the project to the Central and Kerala governments. The government of Kerala has announced a grant of Rs. 15 lakhs and has agreed to provide 30 acres of land for the school.

    She is of the firm opinion that, athletes of India lack not talent but the basic, modern and scientific facilities for training. By training young Indian sports talents, Olympic medals are achievable. Her achievements in the field of sports are innumerable. She set a National record at the State Atheletic meet at Kottayam in 1977. The National Inter State meet held at Kollam in 1978 flashed Usha as a brilliant Junior Athlete.

    She was selected as a member of the National squad for the 18th Pakistan National games at Karachi in 1980 and also to take part in the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Usha was the youngest Indian sprinter to compete in the quadrennial sporting extravaganza in Moscow Olympics. She was just 16 then. She participated in the Delhi Asiad in 1982 and won the first medal of the games. In 1983, in the Asian Track and Field meet held at Kuwait, she participated in the 400 mts running for the first time.


    She mentions about the greatest achievement and the saddest experience in 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. She lost her bronze medal in the 400 mts hurdles by one hundredth of a second. The achievement was reaching the finals and the sad thing was losing it by a very narrow margin. She says, considering her limited exposure in the event she did well. She could have won if she had a little more exposure. As we know she is the first Indian woman to reach the finals of an Olympic event. Though she came fourth, she set an Asian record of 55.42 seconds for the 400 mts hurdles.

    In the Asian Atheletic meet held at Jakarta, Indonesia in 1985, Usha won five gold medals in 100 mts, 200 mts, 400 mts, hurdles and 4x100 mts relay. This is a record winning - five gold medals in a single international meet and so she was crowned with the title 'The India's Golden Girl'. At the X Asian games held at Seoul in 1986 she won four golds and silver and earned the title of 'Asia's Sprint Queen'. Because of her fast running she is called 'Payyoli Express'. Or is it because she is employed in the Railways?

    She took a short break in 1991, after her marriage to Mr. Srinivasan and came back to the field in 1993. She had a deep sense of disappointment for missing the bronze in the 1984 Olympics. So she came back with a determination to achieve this feat. She selected a new coach Mr. J.S. Bhatia. He gave her slow training and she improved. She fell down during training and had a knee injury. Though her ambition was to take part in the Sydney Olympics, circumstances forced her to retire from sports.

    She was the recipient of the Arjun award in 1984. She was given the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1984. The best Athlete award was given to her consecutively for four years - 1984, 85, 86, 87 and in 1989 too. She has won nearly 102 medals at National and lnternational meets. She received the 'Woman Achiever Award' from the 'Ladies Wing' of the Indian Merchants Chamber, Bombay. In recognition of her service, a road has been named after her in Payyoli, her home town. The "P.T. Usha Sports Council" has been set up at central stadium, Thiruvananthapuram. The latest award Usha received was the Kerala sports journalist's award in 1999. P.T. Usha's life shows that success knocks at the doors for those who strive for it.

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