Amrita Bhalla
New Delhi, 19th June 2021: Honorary Captain Milkha Singh also known as “The Flying Sikh” was born on 20th November 1929 into a Sikh family in Govindpura, which is now a part of Pakistan, he was one of 15 siblings, eight of whom died before the Partition of India.

He was orphaned during the Partition when his parents, a brother and two sisters were killed by Muslim mobs in the violence that ensued. Milkha Singh was introduced to the sport only after he had fled to India post the partition and joined the Indian Army.

Independent India’s first individual sports star, Milkha Singh dominated Indian track and field for over a decade with his speed and spirit, creating multiple records and winning numerous medals in his career. Milkha Singh remained the greatest Olympian from India for decades with his phenomenal displays. The beginnings that saw him orphaned and displaced during the Partition of India, Singh has become a sporting icon in his country. In 2008, journalist Rohit Brijnath described Singh as “the finest athlete India has ever produced”.

Singh represented India in the 200m and 400m competitions of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. In 1958, Singh set records for the 200m and 400m in the National Games of India, held at Cuttack, and also won gold medals in the same events at the Asian Games. He then won a gold medal in the 400m (440 yards at this time) competition at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games with a time of 46.6 seconds. This latter achievement made him the first gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games from independent India.

Singh was promoted from the rank of sepoy to junior commissioned officer in recognition of his successes in the 1958 Asian Games. He subsequently became Director of Sports in Punjab Ministry of Education, a post he retired from in 1998.

Singh was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award, following his success in 1958. In 2001, he turned down an offer of the Arjuna Award from the Indian government, arguing that it was intended to recognise young sportspeople and not those such as him. He also thought that the Award was being inappropriately given to people who had little notable involvement as active sportspeople at all.

He said that “I have been clubbed with sportspersons who are nowhere near the level that I had achieved” and that the award had become devalued. All of Singh’s medals have been donated to the nation. They were displayed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi and later moved to a sports museum in Patiala, where a pair of running shoes that he wore in Rome are also displayed.

Singh met Nirmal Saini, a former captain of the Indian women’s volleyball team in Ceylon in 1955, they both decided to get married in the year 1962 and had three daughters and a son, the golfer Jeev Milkha Singh. In 1999, they adopted the seven-year-old son of Havildar Bikram Singh, who had died in the Battle of Tiger Hill. His life story inspired a 2013 Bollywood film called “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag”.

Singh was admitted to the intensive care unit at Fortis Hospital in Mohali on 24 May 2021 with pneumonia caused by COVID-19. Later he was admitted to PGIMER Chandigarh. His condition was, for a while, described as stable, but he died on 18 June 2021 at 11:30 PM. His wife, Nirmal Saini, had died a few days earlier on 13 June 2021, also due to COVID-19.

The nation mourned and paid their tribute to the legendary sprint icon of India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi tribute in a tweet saying, “In the passing away of Shri Milkha Singh Ji, we have lost a colossal sportsperson, who captured the nation’s imagination and had a special place in the hearts of countless Indians,” PM Modi said in a tweet. “His inspiring personality endeared himself to millions. Anguished by his passing away.”