India will full 75 years of Independence this 12 months. Here's a sequence acknowledging 75 nice sporting achievements by Indian athletes. Sportstar will current one iconic sporting achievement every day, main as much as August 15, 2022.
P.T. Usha's 4 gold medals at 1986 Seoul Asian Video games
On the 1986 Asian Video games in Seoul, India completed fifth, with 5 gold medals. 4 of these medals had been gained by one lady – P.T. Usha.
“Of all my Asian Video games, Seoul would stay closest to my coronary heart,” she says. “I used to be on the peak then and was raring to go. I had run so many races in Seoul with out taking a lot of a breather. I used to be nearly on the observe whereas athletics was on.”
India's P.T. Usha on her option to profitable the 400m hurdles gold in file time on the Asian Video games in Seoul, South Korea on September 30, 1986. - THE HINDU ARCHIVES
She had gained 4 gold medals – in 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles and 4 x 400 m relay – and a silver in 100m. “I had misplaced out the 100m gold to Lydia de Vega of Philippines, with whom I had loved an amazing rivalry; it was a poor begin that permit me down in that race,” Usha says. “It actually was a satisfying outing for me in Seoul the place I stored my nation’s flag flying and set three Video games information.”
Usha had virtually single-handedly helped India attain fifth within the general medals tally; she had accounted for 4 of the nation's 5 golds. When she had opened her marketing campaign, India was standing at 14th within the medals tally.
(The article was first revealed in The Hindu on September 22, 2014)
Close to-miss in Los Angeles
Usha, also referred to as the 'Payyoli Specific', had a merciless near-miss on the most important stage, two years earlier than the Seoul Asian Video games. The then 25-year-old Usha had missed an Olympic medal in ladies's 400m hurdles by one hundredth of a second at Los Angeles, 1984.
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As the ultimate completed on August 8, she thought she had gained the bronze. The announcer on the stadium first stated that she had gained the bronze; then he stopped, abruptly. Just a few agonising moments later, Usha discovered that she had completed fourth in a photograph end.
READ: Los Angeles ’84: a acquire & a loss
"I and India, missed an Olympic medal by one hundredth of a second at Los Angeles, 1984. The frustration on the time was crushing, however now, 25 years later, I wouldn’t hesitate even for a second earlier than rating that race as the most effective second of my profession. That near-medal means to me as a lot as among the 100-odd worldwide medals I've gained in my profession that lasted practically 20 years,” Usha informed Sportstar in 2009.
