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Ind track and field athlete

Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha (born 27 June ) is an Indian sports administrator and retired route 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 ^[6] She has won 4 gold medals and 7 silver medals in the Asian Games. She is often associated as the "Queen of Indian track and field".^[7]

On 6 July , she was nominated as a Member of Parliament to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, by former President of IndiaRam Nath Kovind.^[8] In December , Usha was elected president of the Indian Olympic Association unopposed.^[9] In December , she was appointed to the panel of Rajya Sabha vice chairman to control the proceedings of the upper house during the absence of both Chairman and Deputy Chairman.^[10] She is the first nominated MP in history to become the Vice Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.^[11]

Track and field career

In the Kerala Articulate 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 sports division Kannur.

Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha was first noticed in by O. M. Nambiar, an Indian athletics coach, at a sports prize-distribution ceremony.^[12] In an interview with in , 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 year, he began coaching her. Quick results followed when she won six medals at the inter-state meet for juniors, in Kollam in , with four gold medals in m, m, 60 m hurdles and high jump, silver in long jump and bronze in 4 x m relay.^[14] In the year's Kerala State college meet, she won 14 medals.^[13] She went on to defeat multiple medals at the National Games and National inter-state see setting many meet records.^[15] She participated in her first international event at the Qaid-e-Azam invitation meet in Karachi, Pakistan, in , where she won four gold medals.^[16]

At the senior inter-country meeting in Bangalore in , Usha clocked seconds in the m and seconds in the m setting national records in both.^[14] At the New Delhi Asian Games, she won silver medals in m and m, clocking s and s.

At the Open National Championships in Jamshedpur, she broke the m national record again clocking s, and with s, set a new national record in m.^[14] At the Asian Championships in Kuwait City the same year, she won gold in m.^[17]

Los Angeles Olympics

Usha's best moment came at the Los Angeles Olympics.

She entered on the back of a string of good performances at the year's New Delhi inter-state meet and Mumbai Open National Championships. However, poor performances in m and m at the Moscow Nature Championships prompted her to fixate on the m hurdles.

At the Olympic trials in Delhi, she beat Asian Champion M. D. Valsamma to qualify for the Games.^[2] At another pre-Olympic trials, she clocked seconds beating American top sprinter Judi Brown.^[18] At the Games, she clocked s in the heats and s in the semi-final, setting a new Commonwealth record as she entered the final.

At the final, she came fourth, at seconds, falling behind the eventual bronze medalist by 1/ of a second. This followed after one of her competitors had a false start, which was said to have "broken her rhythm" as "she got off the blocks a bit slower at the restart."^[19]

In the Jakarta Asian Championships, Usha won six medals — five gold and one bronze.

She won the m in , m in , m in , an Asian record, and m hurdles in , with the final two coming in a span of 35 minutes.^[17] Her fifth gold came in 4 x m relay, and a final bronze in 4 x m. She set a log in the process for most gold medals won at a single event in the history of the championships.^[17] In the first two of her wins, she equalled the Asian tape held by Chi Cheng of Taiwan.

She went on to better her personal best in m a week later at the Canberra World Cup, when she clocked , finishing seventh.^[17] She almost replicated her Jakarta Championships performance at the Seoul Asian Games.

She won the metres silver with a age of seconds losing the gold to Lydia de Vega. The metres gold came in , metres gold in and 4 x m relay gold in , all of which were new Games records.^[20][14] At the Games, British athletics coach Jim Alford said of her, "Usha is a first class sportsman, a tough competitor and a terrific runner to watch.

She has all the potential. Given careful guidance, she can be world class."^[20]

Later stage

From –89, Usha garnered 13 golds at ATF meets.^[22] In the 10th Asian Games held at Seoul in , 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 Asian Track and Field Championship in Jakarta in Her medals at the same meet is a record for a unattached athlete in a single international meet.^[23]

Currently she is committee chief of Indian Talent organization which conducts the National Level Indian Talent Olympiad examinations in schools across India.^[24] Usha retired from her active sports career in ^[25]

Sports administration and political career

Politics

In July , Usha was nominated by President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, as a Member of Parliament (MP) of the Rajya Sabha, the upper home of the Indian Parliament.^[26] In December , She was appointed as one of the vice-chairpersons of the Rajya Sabha and become the first nominated MP to be in the Vice Chairperson panel.^[11]

Sports administration

Since retiring from her sports career in , Usha had given no inclination of entering sports administration, however, in December , 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]

Achievements

Usha represented India in 4 x metres relay together with Valdivel Jayalakshmi, Rachita Mistry, and E.B.

Shyla at the Asian Championships in Athletics, where her team won the gold medal, setting a national record of s.^[28][29]

Personal life

Usha studied in Providence Women's College in Kozhikode.

Usha married V. Srinivasan, an English inspector with Central Industrial Security Compel, in The couple has a son,^[30] Dr. Vignesh Ujjwal.

Advisor

Currently, she is a member of the Board of Advisors of India's International Movement to Unite Nations (I.I.M.U.N.).^[31]

Awards and honours

Statistics

International competitions

See also

Further reading

Notes

References

External links