A multiple Commonwealth gold medallist, Milkha Singh gives us his insights into the fastest man in the world and the state of Indian sport.
Q: Do you feel Usain Bolt is the greatest ever?
Milkha Singh: His statistics and performance tell us so. In the history of 100m, almost every race stays a photo finish. But here is a man, who is so strong and athletic that he stays way ahead. And mind you, till the first 30mts, he stays the one among the crowd. It’s only after 40m that he takes over! And in what fashion. Have you seen any of Usain Bolt’s races ending up with a close finish. Never! He’s just way too ahead.
Q: How do you sum up India’s performance?
Milkha Singh: It’s a fact that we have won medals in shooting, boxing and badminton. But what about athletics? Athletics have always been the showpiece event in any Olympics and we are not just good enough. We still talk about PT Usha, Anju Bobby George, G.S Randhawa and Shriram Singh.
Q: What is your prescription?
Milkha Singh: The Minister for Sports, Ajay Maken is a nice man. I would expect him to immediately summon a meeting with all presidents and secretaries of State Associations.
Don’t mistake me, it won’t be a post mortem alone. We need to identify the areas where we need to move forward.
Q: Where do we need to move forward?
Milkha Singh: We need to have good quality coaches, who have to have a target. But somewhere I feel the passion is missing. Look at the pride of the Coaches when their wards win a Medal in the Olympics. Let the Coaches be given a specific target. If they achieve it, they will be handed more incentives.
Q: Do we need to follow any example?
Milkha Singh: We need not look far. Just look at China and their transformation. If that’s not enough to inspire us, we shouldn’t be competing any more. What pains me most is that we are still mere participants in Athletics. This comes at a time when India leads the World in different spheres of life.