Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha (born 27 June 1964) is an Indian sports administrator, parliamentarian and retired

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete. She was born in Koothali near

Perambra Perambra is a major town in Koyilandy taluk of Kozhikode district in North Malabar region of Kerala state, India. Perambra is the anglicized form of the original name 'Payyormala' from the British rule. It is one of the 140 assembly constituen ...

Kozhikode district Kozhikode (), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, along its southwestern Malabar Coast. The city of Kozhikode, also known as Calicut, is the district headquarters. The Kozhikode Municipal Corporation has a corporation l ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, and grew up in

Payyoli Payyoli is a municipality town on the Malabar Coast of Kozhikode district in the South Indian state of Kerala. Payyoli is famous for being the hometown of athlete PT Usha, who is nicknamed as the Payyoli Express. It is a town in Quilandy Talu ...

. Usha has been associated with Indian athletics since 1979. She has won a total of four gold and seven silver medals in the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

. She is often associated as the "Queen of Indian track and field". In July 2022, she was nominated as a Member of Parliament to the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, the upper house of the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...

. In December 2022, she was elected president of the

Indian Olympic Association The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) or Indian Olympic Committee (IOC) (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bhāratīya Olaṃpika Saṃgha'') is responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other international spor ...

unopposed. That same month, 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. Usha is the first nominated parliamentarian in history to become the vice-chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.

Track and field career

In 1976, the Kerala State Government started a Sports division for women in

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the maj ...

, and Usha started practicing under the guidance of coach O. M. Nambiar in 1977 as one among the forty girl athletes in sports division Kannur. Nambiar was an athletics coach and had taken notice of Usha at a sports prize-distribution ceremony. 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." The same year, he began coaching her. Quick results followed when she won six medals at the inter-state meet for juniors, in

Kollam Kollam (;), is an ancient seaport and the List of cities and towns in Kerala, fourth largest city in the Indian state of Kerala. Located on the southern tip of the Malabar Coast of the Arabian Sea, the city is on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake ...

in 1978, with four gold medals in 100 m, 200 m, 60 m hurdles and

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

, silver in

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and bronze in 4 x 100 m relay. In the year's Kerala State college meet, she won 14 medals. She went on to win multiple medals at the 1979 National Games and 1980 National inter-state meet setting many meet records. She participated in her first international event at the Qaid-e-Azam invitation meet in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, Pakistan, in 1980, where she won four gold medals. At the senior inter-country meeting in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

in 1981, Usha clocked 11.6 seconds in the 100 m and 24.8 seconds in the 200 m setting national records in both. At the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games, she won

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

s in 100 m and 200 m, clocking 11.95 s and 25.32 s. At the 1983 Open National Championships in

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, she broke the 200 m national record again clocking 23.9 s, and with 53.6 s, set a new national record in 400 m. At the Asian Championships in

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the same year, she won gold in 400 m.

1984 Los Angeles Olympics

Usha's best moment came at the 1984 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 100m and 200m at the Moscow World Championships prompted her to concentrate on the 400 m hurdles. At the Olympic trials in Delhi, she beat Asian Champion M. D. Valsamma to qualify for the Games. At another pre-Olympic trials, she clocked 55.7 seconds beating American top sprinter Judi Brown. At the Games, she clocked 56.81 s in the heats and 55.94 s in the semi-final, setting a new Commonwealth record as she entered the final. At the final, she came fourth, at 55.42 seconds, falling behind the eventual bronze medalist by 1/100 of a second. This followed after one of her competitors had a

false start In sports, a false start is a disallowed start, usually due to a movement by a participant before (or in some cases after) being signaled or otherwise permitted by the rules to start. Depending on the sport and the event, a false start can resu ...

, which was said to have "broken her rhythm" as "she got off the blocks a bit slower at the restart." In the 1985 Jakarta Asian Championships, Usha won six medals — five gold and one bronze. She won the 100 m in 11.64, 200 m in 23.005, 400 m in 52.52, an Asian record, and 400 m hurdles in 56.64, with the final two coming in a span of 35 minutes. Her fifth gold came in 4 x 400 m relay, and a final bronze in 4 x 100 m. She set a record in the process for most gold medals won at a single event in the history of the championships. In the first two of her wins, she equalled the Asian record held by Chi Cheng of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. She went on to better her personal best in 400 m a week later at the 1985 Canberra World Cup, when she clocked 51.61, finishing seventh. She almost replicated her Jakarta Championships performance at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games. She won the 100 metres silver with a time of 11.67 seconds losing the gold to Lydia de Vega. The 200 metres gold came in 23.44, 400 metres gold in 52.16 and 4 x 400 m relay gold in 3:34.58, all of which were new Games records. 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 world class."

Later stage

From 1983–89, Usha garnered 13 golds at ATF meets. In the 10th

held at

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

in 1986, Usha won 4 gold medals and 1 silver medal in the track and field events. She also won five gold medals at the 6th Asian Track and Field Championship in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

in 1985. Her medals at the same meet is a record for a single athlete in a single international meet. Currently she is committee head of Indian Talent organization which conducts the National Level Indian Talent Olympiad examinations in schools across India. Usha retired from her active sports career in 2000.

Sports administration and political career

Politics

In July 2022, Usha was nominated by

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

, Ram Nath Kovind, as a Member of Parliament (MP) of the

, the upper house of the

. In December 2022, 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. On 8 February 2023, Usha chaired the Rajya Sabha.

Sports administration

Since retiring from her sports career in 2000, Usha had given no inclination of entering sports administration, however, in December 2022, she was elected as the president of the

(IOA) in an election where she ran unopposed. She also became the first woman to be elected president of the IOA.

Achievements

Usha represented India in 4 x 100 metres relay together with Valdivel Jayalakshmi, Rachita Mistry, and E.B. Shyla at the 1998 Asian Championships in Athletics, where her team won the gold medal, setting a national record of 44.43 s.

Personal life

Usha studied 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, 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.).

Awards and honours

* Arjuna Award in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

( D.Litt) conferred by Kannur University in 2000 * Honorary doctorate ( D.Sc) conferred by IIT Kanpur in 2017 * Honorary doctorate (D.Litt) conferred by University of Calicut in 2018 *

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

Veteran Pin in 2019 * Honorary doctorate (D.Litt) conferred by Central University of Kerala in 2023

Statistics

International competitions

Notes

References

External links