Good Sports: Milkha Singh's Last Desire
Legendary runner Milkha Singh was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Times of India Sports Awards and expressed what he called his “last desire”: to see an Indian runner win an Olympic gold medal.
“Since gaining Independence, very few Indians have reached the finals in an athletics event and all failed to win a medal. That includes me also. I could have done it in Rome but I lost the chance of creating history there,” said Singh, who finished fourth in the 400-meter final at the 1960 Rome Olympics, just one-tenth of a second from a bronze medal.
P.T. Usha came even closer at the 1984 Olympics, losing the bronze in the 400-meter hurdles by one hundredth of a second, and Singh hopes another athlete will take a bigger leap forward.
“The medal that slipped from my hand in Rome, the national anthem that India couldn’t listen in 1960, I want an Indian to do it before I die,” Singh said.
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