India's Asian Games Legends: Sriram Singh

Sriram Singh has to be content with a silver medal in the 1970 Asian Games but made up for it in style — winning gold in the 800m event in both the 1974 and 1978 editions in Tehran and Bangkok respectively. Sriram also had an eventful 1976 Olympics.

Much was said about him running on synthetic tracks for the first time, but Sriram surprised all by qualifying comfortably and breaking his own Asian record (1:45.94) before coming second in the semis.

In a thrilling finale, Sriram led the track for about 550m before being overtaken eventual winner Alberto Juantorena, who broke the world record in the event. Sriram finished seventh in that race, a gross misrepresentation of his class as a runner who never trained abroad to acclimatise or run on synthetic tracks before the Olympics.

“Juantorena credited his world record to me. Owing to lack of preparation and devoid of experience outside the country, I struggled to finish with a medal. All the three races were like finals to me; I’d to give my best all the time. I wasn’t in the best of shape during the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Had I been well and continued in the same way as in Montreal, I would have certainly won a medal,” Sriram is quoted as saying in a DNA report .

Asian Games medals

1970 Asian Games Bangkok, Thailand: silver in 800m 1974 Asian Games Tehran, Iran: gold in 800m 1978 Asian Games Bangkok, Thailand: gold in 800m