Kheta Ram aka Khetha Ram / KhetaRam (born 20 September 1986) is an Indian athlete and two time Asian Championships finalist who represented India at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the marathon event. He finished 26th in the men's marathon at the Rio Olympics. He is also in the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

Career

Ram enrolled for the Indian Army through the general quota to earn a steady income and is posted at Samba, Jammu. He has been representing India in various events, including the

World Military Games The Military World Games is a multi-sport event for military sportspeople, organized by the International Military Sports Council (CISM). They have been held since 1995, although championships for separate sports had been held for some years. A w ...

. With an impressive array of races and achievements, recently, he and his coach Surendra Singh decided that he should train and run a marathon distance rather than track and field events of intermediate distances as he has been doing. He has trained at the Army Sports Institute in Pune, in the thin air of Thangaraj Stadium in Wellington / Coonoor in the Nilgiri Hills so as to increase his heart and lung capacity, and most recently at the SAI complex in Bangalore, India. His VO2 Max is around 84 (ml of Oxygen used in 1 min per kg of bodyweight, comparable to Lance Armstrong), with a resting heart rate of around 45bpm. He represented India at the 2016 Summer Olympics, qualifying with a marathon time of 02:17:23 in the 2016 Mumbai Marathon along with two other Indian marathoner men,

Gopi T Thonakal Gopi aka Thanackal Gopi (born 24 May 1988) is an Indian athlete who has qualified to represent India at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the marathon event. He is also in the Indian Army. He is the first and so far the only Indian athlete ...

and Nitendra Singh Rawat.

Competition records

Personal life

Born in Khokhsar(East) in the

Barmer district Barmer District is a district in Rajasthan state of India. It is located in the western part of Rajasthan state forming a part of the Thar Desert. Barmer is the third largest district by area in Rajasthan and fifth largest district in India. Oc ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

, Kheta Ram's humble origin is as a Naib Subedar of the Jat Regiment. He has one sister and four brothers. He used to run 4 km every day through the desert to a school that only had classes up to 8th grade. Many fast runners are from hilly areas which is thought to give them a red blood cell, lung efficiency and endurance advantage. In contrast, Kheta Ram's abilities are thought to come from the strengthening his calves and hamstrings may have received from running in the sand. He joined the Army at Age 18 as a means of earning a steady income, and got recognized for his athletic abilities. The

excuses world class sports persons from active duty, allowing them to train as an athlete full-time. He would like to use his privileges as an athlete to solve the acute water issues of his village. His parents and wife are not educated and don't comprehend that he will represent the country in the Olympics. He is the only earning member of his family and sends his savings home to his parents, wife and two children. His biggest expense is his monthly purchase of shoes (priced at roughly Rs 10,000 per pair) to accommodate the number of miles that the athlete runs each month. As of mid 2016, he does not have any corporate sponsorship and has to purchase his own shoes. He and his fellow athletes spend 11 out of 12 months of the year away from home and without meeting their families, a sacrifice that they must make in order to compete on the world stage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ram, Kheta Living people Indian male marathon runners Olympic athletes for India Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics 1986 births Place of birth missing (living people) Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India South Asian Games bronze medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in athletics