I have competed in three Asian Games and three Olympics. In my second Asian Games, in Tehran in 1974, I won a gold medal in the 800m with a new Asian Record and a silver medal in the relay.
And in my second Olympics in Montreal in 1976, I set a National and Asian record with a time of 1:45.77. I finished seventh in the world, and that record stood the test of time for 42 years.
Montreal 1976 was the first time I saw a synthetic track. In India, I was clocking 1 minute and 47 seconds in 800m.
On the first day, before the heat, I thought the heats would be my final race. But I crossed the finish line in 1:45.77s and qualified for the semi-finals with a new National and Asian record. On the second day, I ran in 1 minute 46 seconds and qualified for the final.
After two days of back-to-back races, I was so fatigued and had so much muscle pain that I barely slept the night before my final. Back then, we didn’t have a masseur or physiotherapist, and we had reached Montreal about a week before the competition, so recovery was really tough.
My coach, Mohammad Ilyas Babar and I feel that if we had the kind of exposure that our athletes get today, my performance could have been even better. People say we would have even got a medal.
By then, Indian athletes like Milkha Singh (1960 Rome Olympics) had already finished fourth at the Olympics. My focus was to run for a medal, and till the 500m mark, I led the race, but the moment I fell out of medal contention, I lost my confidence and eventually finished seventh. But our biggest achievement was that all seven of us in that final bettered the previous Olympic record.
After the race, the winner, Alberto Juantorena, said his World Record was due to Mr. Sriram Singh from India. Those were his words.
During my time, I was the leader in Asia, and I didn’t have any competition in India. If I had trained in the European circuit, I would have improved further and raced accordingly. We raced for three days continuously with no breaks. Due to the lack of recovery facilities and immense fatigue, I couldn’t break the record again.
Need to work at grassrouts level
Today, our players have many opportunities, but the stadiums are empty. In the 1982 Asian Games, the JLN Stadium was full of people. We lack a sports culture. We need to go to rural areas and train more kids at a young age. I feel parents have started paying attention, but athletes today are looking for shortcuts. They need to have targets and train to achieve them. If you don’t have a winning mindset, you cannot win.
During our time, the Arjuna Award came only with a certificate, but today there is a cash award and government job security too. It is more convenient, yet the performance standard is the same.
We still have to improve a lot. We can achieve that with long-term planning for the Olympics and Asian Games, coaching the athletes accordingly.
I take great pride in telling people that I won a medal for the country. My grandchildren see it and ask about it. Everyone should have the courage to do this for the country.
As told to Ritu Sejwal
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