Legendary PT Usha has been elected as the president of the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) on Monday .
Earlier On November 26 , PT Usha had tweeted about filing her nomination for the top job. She was the only contender for the election of the top position in the sports organization.
Union Law Minister and former Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju took to twitter and congratulated the veteran sprinter on her appointment as the supremo of IOA.
“Congratulations to legendary Golden Girl, Smt. P T Usha on being elected as the President of Indian Olympic Association. I also congratulate all the sporting heroes of our country on becoming the office bearers of the prestigious IOA! A nation is proud of them!” Kiren Rijiju tweeted.
Congratulations to legendary Golden Girl, Smt. P T Usha on being elected as the President of Indian Olympic Association. I also congratulate all the sporting heroes of our country on becoming the office bearers of the prestigious IOA! Nation is proud of them ! pic.twitter.com/LSHHdmMy9H
— Kiren Rijiju (मोदी का परिवार) (@KirenRijiju) November 27, 2022
Usha also nicknamed as “Payyoli Express” — named after the town of her birth in the southern state Kerala , is one of the most accomplished athletes to have represented India at the international level, winning four gold medals and seven silver medals at the Asian Games. 58-year-old PT Usha was born on 27 June 1964 in Payyoli, Kozhikode district of Kerala, and was called the ‘Queen of track and field’ for almost two decades.
Usha is one of the greatest athletes the country has ever produced. She made her Olympics debut in 1980 at the Moscow games when she was 16.
PT Usha is said to have start her professional career in 1977, under her athletics coach O.M Nambiar who first noticed her at a sports prize-distribution ceremony. Since 1979 PT Usha has been associated with Indian athletics. She won her first six medals at the inter-state meet for juniors, in Kollam in 1978, while adding many more medals on her achievement list including 14 medals at the Kerala state college meet and then the National Games in 1979 and 1980 National inter-state meet setting many meet records.
PT Usha is also became a trend-setter for women in India who took to excelling in sports. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Usha finished first in the semi-finals of the 400m hurdles, but narrowly missed the bronze medal in the finals, she missed a podium finish by 1/100th of a second.
In the 1985 Asian Championships at Jakarta ,PT Usha won five gold medals and a bronze in a span of five days.
At Seoul in the 1986 Asian Games, she went on to win four golds, each in Asian record time, and a silver.
She added many more medals to her achievement list including four golds and five silvers at the 1989 Asian Championships and 1990 Asian Games.
PT Usha the legendary athlete announced her retirement in the year 2000. In an interview while referring to the ‘Usha School of Athletics’ she once was quoted saying,
“I am satisfied with what I have achieved. All what I aimed for, except for the Olympic medal, I achieved. I now want to ensure that one of my students wins one!” the legendary athlete had stated in an interview referring to the ‘Usha School of Athletics’.
Her school was established in 2002, with the aim of bringing an Olympic medal to India – something she narrowly missed by one hundredth of a second at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.
The school was moved to Kinaloor . As per reports the trainees are admitted for fully residential programmes and all their expenses are met by the school.
According to further reports , Usha’s school has produced some wonderful athletes like Tintu Luka and Jisna Mathew. It has won about 400 medals at National meets.
PT Usha was nominated into the Rajya Sabha as well by former President Ram Nath Kovind.
