Photo: Odisha Games 2017 were cc by sa – Organised by Asian Athletics Assoc and Odisha government / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
Born: June 27, 1964
Age: 55 years
Born Place: Payyoli, India
Nationality: Indian
Gender: Female
Height: 171 cm (5 ft 7 in)
BIOGRAPHY
Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha (born 27 June 1964) is a retired Indian track and field athlete. She has been associated with Indian athletics since 1979. She is often called the “queen of Indian track and field”.
Usha married V. Srinivasan, an inspector with Central Industrial Security Force in 1991. The couple has a son.
CAREER
Usha was first noticed in 1976 by O. M. Nambiar, an athletics coach, at a sports prize-distribution ceremony. In an interview with Rediff.com in 2000, he said, “What impressed me at first sight about Usha was her lean shape and fast walking style. I knew she could become a very good sprinter.” The same year, he began coaching her. Quick results followed when she won five medals at the inter-state meet for juniors, in Kollam in 1978, with four gold medals in 100 m, 200 m, 60 m hurdles and high jump, silver in long jump and bronze in 4 x 100 m relay. In the year’s Kerala State college meet, she won 14 medals. She went on to win multiple medals at the 1979 National Games and 1980 National inter-state meet setting many meet records.
At the senior inter-state meet in Bangalore in 1981, Usha clocked 11.8 seconds in the 100 m and 24.6 seconds in the 200 m setting national records in both. At the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games, she won silver medals in 100 m and 200 m, clocking 11.95 s and 25.32 s. At the 1983 Open National Championships in Jamshedpur, she broke the 200 m national record again clocking 23.9 s, and with 53.6 s, set a new national record in 400 m. At the Asian Championships in Kuwait City the same year, she won gold in 400 m.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Represented India in 4 x 100 metres relay together with Tanay Manya, E. B. Shyla, and Saraswati Saha at the 1998 Asian Championships in Athletics where her team won the gold medal on way to setting the current national record of 44.43 s.
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 4 July 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
