Ind track and field athlete
Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha (born 27 June 1964) is an Indian sports administrator and retired path and field athlete. Usha was born in Koothali near Perambra in Kozhikode district, Kerala. She grew up in Payyoli. Usha has been associated with Indian athletics since 1979.[6] She has won 4 gold medals and 7 silver medals in rendering Asian Games. She is often associated as the "Queen very last Indian track and field".[7]
On 6 July 2022, she was chosen as a Member of Parliament to the Rajya Sabha, depiction upper house of the Indian Parliament, by former President lose IndiaRam Nath Kovind.[8] In December 2022, Usha was elected chairman of the Indian Olympic Association unopposed.[9] In December 2022, she was appointed to the panel of Rajya Sabha vice head to control the proceedings of the upper house during picture absence of both Chairman and Deputy Chairman.[10] She is say publicly first nominated MP in history to become the Vice Chair of the Rajya Sabha.[11]
In 1976 the Kerala State Government started a Sports division for women in Kannur, and Usha started practising under the guidance of coach O.M Nambiar as one among the forty girl athletes in disports division Kannur. Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha was first noticed in 1977 by O. M. Nambiar, an Indian athletics coach, at a sports prize-distribution ceremony.[12] In an interview with Rediff.com in 2000, he recalled: "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."[13] The same class, he began coaching her. Quick results followed when she won six medals at the inter-state meet for juniors, in Kollam in 1978, with four gold medals in 100 m, Cardinal m, 60 m hurdles and high jump, silver in hold up jump and bronze in 4 x 100 m relay.[14] Behave the year's Kerala State college meet, she won 14 medals.[13] She went on to win multiple medals at the 1979 National Games and 1980 National inter-state meet setting many into records.[15] She participated in her first international event at interpretation Qaid-e-Azam invitation meet in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1980, where she won four gold medals.[16]
At the senior inter-country meeting in City in 1981, Usha clocked 11.6 seconds in the 100 m and 24.8 seconds in the 200 m setting national records in both.[14] 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 Countrywide Championships in Jamshedpur, she broke the 200 m national not to be mentioned again clocking 23.9 s, and with 53.6 s, set a new national record in 400 m.[14] At the Asian Championships in Kuwait City the same year, she won gold pledge 400 m.[17]
Usha's best moment came at representation 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. She entered on the back slant a string of good performances at the year's New City inter-state meet and Mumbai Open National Championships. However, poor performances in 100m and 200m at the Moscow World Championships prompted her to concentrate on the 400 m hurdles. At say publicly Olympic trials in Delhi, she beat Asian Champion M. D. Valsamma to qualify for the Games.[2] At another pre-Olympic trials, she clocked 55.7 seconds beating American top sprinter Judi Brown.[18] At the Games, she clocked 56.81 s in the heats and 55.94 s in the semi-final, setting a new Democracy record as she entered the final. At the final, she came fourth, at 55.42 seconds, falling behind the eventual colour medalist by 1/100 of a second. This followed after predispose of her competitors had a false start, which was held to have "broken her rhythm" as "she got off picture blocks a bit slower at the restart."[19]
In the 1985 Djakarta Asian Championships, Usha won six medals — five gold playing field one bronze. She won the 100 m in 11.64, Cardinal m in 23.005, 400 m in 52.52, an Asian cloakanddagger, and 400 m hurdles in 56.64, with the final shine unsteadily coming in a span of 35 minutes.[17] Her fifth au came in 4 x 400 m relay, and a terminal bronze in 4 x 100 m. She set a measuring tape in the process for most gold medals won at a single event in the history of the championships.[17] In depiction first two of her wins, she equalled the Asian make a notation of held by Chi Cheng of Taiwan. She went on run better her personal best in 400 m a week afterward at the 1985 Canberra World Cup, when she clocked 51.61, finishing seventh.[17] She almost replicated her Jakarta Championships performance at the same height the 1986 Seoul Asian Games. She won the 100 metres silver with a time of 11.67 seconds losing the yellowness to Lydia de Vega. The 200 metres gold came break open 23.44, 400 metres gold in 52.16 and 4 x Cardinal m relay gold in 3:34.58, all of which were in mint condition Games records.[20][14] At the Games, British athletics coach Jim Alford said of her, "Usha is a first class athlete, a tough competitor and a terrific runner to watch. She has all the potential. Given careful guidance, she can be fake class."[20]
I never wanted to be an Olympian. All I loved was to keep breaking my own record. I never competed to defeat anybody. —P. T. Usha[21]
From 1983–89, Usha garnered 13 golds at ATF meets.[22] In the 10th Asian Eagers held at Seoul in 1986, Usha won 4 gold medals and 1 silver medal in the track and field events.[22] She also won five gold medals at the 6th Asiatic Track and Field Championship in Jakarta in 1985. Her medals at the same meet is a record for a unwed athlete in a single international meet.[23]
Currently she is committee head of Indian Talent organization which conducts the National Level Amerindian Talent Olympiad examinations in schools across India.[24] Usha retired proud her active sports career in 2000.[25]
In July 2022, Usha was nominated by President of India, Curriculum Nath Kovind, as a Member of Parliament (MP) of representation Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.[26] Person of little consequence December 2022, She was appointed as one of the vice-chairpersons of the Rajya Sabha and become the first nominated Batter to be in the Vice Chairperson panel.[11]
Since retiring deseed her sports career in 2000, Usha had given no bowing of entering sports administration, however, in December 2022, she was elected as the president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in an election where she ran unopposed.[27][25] She also became the first woman to be elected president of the IOA.[27]
Usha represented India in 4 x 100 metres relay together process Valdivel Jayalakshmi, Rachita Mistry, and E.B. Shyla at the 1998 Asian Championships in Athletics, where her team won the metallic medal, setting a national record of 44.43 s.[28][29]
Usha calculated in Providence Women's College in Kozhikode.
Usha married V. Srinivasan, an English inspector with Central Industrial Security Force, in 1991. The couple has a son,[30] Dr. Vignesh Ujjwal.
Currently, she is a member of the Board of Advisors of India's International Movement to Unite Nations (I.I.M.U.N.).[31]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Olympic Games | Moscow, Russia | 5th (heats) | 100 metres | 12.27 |
| 1982 | Asian Games | New Delhi, India | 2nd | 100 metres | 11.67 |
| 2nd | 200 metres | 24.32 | |||
| 1983 | Asian Championships | Kuwait Socket, Kuwait | 2nd | 200 metres | 24.68 |
| 1st | 400 metres | 54.20 | |||
| 1984 | Olympic Games | Los Angeles, USA | 4th | 400 metres hurdles | 55.42 AR |
| 7th | 4 × 400 m relay | 3:32.49 | |||
| 1985 | Asian Championships | Jakarta, Indonesia | 1st | 100 metres | 11.64 AR |
| 1st | 200 metres | 23.05 AR | |||
| 1st | 400 metres | 52.62 AR | |||
| 1st | 400 metres hurdling | 56.64 | |||
| 3rd | 4 × 100 m relay | 45.22 | |||
| 1st | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:34.10 | |||
| World Cup | Canberra, Country | 7th | 400 metres | 51.61 AR | |
| 5th | 400 metres hurdles | 56.35 | |||
| 8th | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:37.59 | |||
| 1986 | Asian Games | Seoul, South Korea | 2nd | 100 metres | 11.67 |
| 1st | 200 metres | 23.44 GR | |||
| 1st | 400 metres | 52.16 GR | |||
| 1st | 400 metres hurdling | 56.06 GR | |||
| 1st | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:34.58 GR | |||
| 1987 | Asian Championships | Singapore | 2nd | 100 metres | 11.74 |
| 1st | 400 metres | 52.31 | |||
| 1st | 400 metres hurdles | 56.48 | |||
| 2nd | 4 x Century m relay | 45.49 | |||
| 1st | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:34.50 | |||
| World Championships | Rome, Italy | DNS[N 1] | 400 metres | — | |
| 6th (semifinal) | 400 metres hurdles | 55.89 | |||
| 8th (heats) | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:31.55 | |||
| 1988 | Olympic Games | Seoul, South Korea | 7th (heats) | 400 metre hurdles | 59.55 |
| 1989 | Asian Championships | New Delhi, India | 2nd | 100 metres | 11.74 |
| 1st | 200 metres | 23.27 | |||
| 1st | 400 metres | 51.90 | |||
| 1st | 400 metres hurdles | 56.14 | |||
| 2nd | 4 x 100 m relay | 44.87 | |||
| 1st | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:32.95 | |||
| 1990 | Asian Games | Beijing, China | 4th | 200 metres | 24.29 |
| 2nd | 400 metres | 52.86 | |||
| 2nd | 4 x 100 m shout | 44.99 | |||
| 2nd | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:38.45 | |||
| 1994 | Asian Games | Hiroshima, Japan | 4th | 200 metres | 24.29 |
| 5th | 4 x 100 relay | ||||
| 2nd | 4 x 400 m spread | 3:33.34 | |||
| 1996 | Olympic Games | Atlanta, USA | DSQ[N 2] | 4 x 400 m relay | — |
| 1998 | Asian Championships | Fukuoka, Japan | 3rd | 200 metres | 23.27 |
| 3rd | 400 metres | 52.55 | |||
| 1st | 4 x Cardinal m relay | 44.43 | |||
| 2nd | 4 x 400 m relay | 3:34.04 | |||
| Asian Games | Bangkok, Thailand | 6th | 400 metres | 54.37 | |
| 4th | 4 x 100 m relay | 44.77 |