Motivational story of Milkha Singh AKA "The Flying Sikh" - MQS

Good day readers, you are welcome to The Motivational Quote and Story. Our motivational quote for the day is from India’s legendary athlete Milkha Singh –

“Hard work, Willpower & Dedication; for a person with these Qualities, the sky is the limit.”

A few days back On 18th June 2021, Mr. Milkha Singh passed away due to Covid-19. With a heavy heart today I am going to dedicate this article to the legendary Athelit.

The back story of Milkha Singh -

Milkha Singh was born in 1929 in a village named “Govindpura” in undivided India, which is currently in Pakistan. He was one of the 15th siblings brought up in the Sikh household. At an early age, during the partition of India, Milkha Singh suffered a huge loss when both his parents, his brothers, and two sisters were murdered in front of his eyes due to communal violence. Being an Orphan and unguided in his youth, Milkh Singh’s life could have gone in the wrong direction, but instead, he decided to join Army. In the year 1951, Milkha Singh finally joined the Indian army on his fourth attempt.

Milkha Singh’s introduction to Athletic -

While serving in the army, Milkha Singh was introduced to the world of Athletics. He was shortlisted for the track events when he surprised his superiors by finishing sixth in the cross country running event, which was at that time was a mandatory event for the army track athletes. Here the surprising thing was, he finished this event without any sort of preparations. Understanding his potential the Army athletic Coach took him under his wing.

Athletic Career -

He first represented India in the Melbourne Olympic games 1956 in the 200 and 400 Meter track division. But being inexperienced he was not able to qualify for the heat stage. Milkha Singh set the national record in the 200 and 400 Meters track division in the national games in the year 1958. In the same year, he won a Gold medal in the Asian Games and become the first Indian (in independent India) to win a Gold medal in “1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games”. He finished the race in 46.6 seconds, this national record stood unbroken till 56 years. Milkha Singh, setting aside his haunting past for the partition, set his foot to Pakistan in the year the 1960s to race aginst Abdul Khalik (one of the famous Pakistani sprinters) where he again won the race and got his nickname “The Flying Sikh” from Pakistani General Ayub Khan. Milkha Singh maintained his hunt for Gold in the Asian games in consecutive 4 years in the 200 and 400-meter track events. He is the only Indian Athelit who broke the Olimpic record in the 400-meter race by completing it in 45.73 seconds, previously the record was set by George Rohden completing the event in 45.9 seconds.

Key Facts of Milkha Singh’s carrier - 

• ·        Milkha Singh first represented India in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.
• ·        Charles Jenkins was the inspiration of Milkha Singh.
• ·        Charles Jenkins helped him with the information to polish his training to perform better in the big league.
• ·        Milkha Singh was the only Indian to win the gold medal at the individual level in the commonwealth games held in 1958.
• ·        Milkha Singh gave his finest performance in the Cardiff Commonwealth Game and set the record by finishing the 400 meters in 46.71 sec.
• ·        Milkha Singh's record stood unbroken Fifty Six years. In 2014, on Discuss throwing event, Vikas Gowda finally won the Gold medal in the Commonwealth game in Glasgow, thus ending the long hold record of the individual Gold medal record of Milkha Singh.
• ·        In the Roman Olympics, Milkah Singh was one of the star attractions, as at that time the world have never seen any athlete with such headgear and a long beard.
• ·        In the Rome Olympic, 400 meters track event, Milkha Singh shocked the World by breaking the pre-game record of 45.9 seconds set in the previous Olympics by George Rohden.
• ·        In the Rome Olympics, Milkha Singh did the worst mistake of his carrier when taking an early lead at the midpoint of the race he slow down a bit while his rivals, Otis Davis, Carl Kaufmann, and Malcolm Spence crossed him. Although all four of them broke the previous Olympic record, in a photo finish Milkha Singh losses the podium place by 0.1 seconds.
• ·        Milkha Singh's record timing of 45.73 was finally broken by Paramjit Singh 38 years later in the National open Athletic held in Kolkata.
• ·        In his biography, Milkah Singh described his training regiment, which was so brutal that till the time he could have filled a tub with his sweat he continued his training. During his competition preparation, he use to train six hours a day. Also sometimes due to exhaustion and fatigue he use to get fainted during practice.

Awards and Recognization -

Milka Singh received the “Padma Shri” award which is the fourth Indian civilian award in the year 1958. Later he was selected as a director of sports in the Punjab Ministry of education. Currently, all the Medals can be seen in the Patiala sports museum along with his shoes which he wore during the Rome Olympics. In the year 2013, “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” (Run, Milkha Run), a Bollywood biopic was made after Milkha Singh, which was inspired by his autobiography named “The Race of My Life”.

Milkha Singh’s Family –

Milkha Singh was brought up in a joint Indian family where he was one of fifteen siblings, unfortunately during the time of partition when they are leaving Pakistan most of his siblings including his parents were killed due to communal violence.

In the year 1955 young Milkha Singh fell in love with Nirmal Kaur who was at that time leading the Indian Women’s Volleyball team. Both of them tied the knot together in the year 1962.

Milkha Singh has four children, one son and three daughters. Milkha Singh’s son Jeev Milkha Singh grew up to become a popular Indian Golfer. Milkha Singh also adopted the seven-year-old son of a martyred soldier in the year 1999 who died in the battle of Tiger Hill.

Milkha Singh’s Hospitalization and death -

Due to the Global Covid 19 pandemic, India became the most affected country in the world where the death toll crossed four hundred thousand. Being affected by this global pandemic, on the 24^th of May 2021, Milkah Singh was admitted to the hospital. On 18^th June a few days after the death of his beloved wife, Nirmal Kaur due to Covid 19, Milkha Singh depart this life, ending a great era of Indian athletics.