Honorary Captain Sriram Singh Shekhawat (born 14 November 1948) is a former

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n middle-distance runner. Sriram Singh joined Rajputana Rifles in 1968 where he came under the influence of the coach Ilyas Babar. Babar persuaded him to shift his focus from 400 meters to 800 meters. In the 1970 Asian Games in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, he was beaten to the second place in the 800 meters by Jimmy Crampton of

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

. Singh was eliminated in the heats of the Munich Olympics in 1972 but his time of 1:47.7 bettered Crampton's Asian record. Prior to the competition he had never run on synthetic tracks. He improved his time to 1:47.6 to win the gold in the 1974 Asian Games. The high point of Sriram Singh's career was the 800m race in

1976 Montreal Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal w ...

. The qualifying round, the semifinal and the final were run on successive days. In the first race, he broke his own Asian record with a time of 1:45.86 In the semifinal, he came fourth in a time of 1:46.42 In the final, Singh made a huge rush from the break at 300 meters to take lead at the bell with a time of 50.85 ahead of

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

Alberto Juantorena Alberto Juantorena (born 3 December 1950) is a Cuban former runner. He is the only athlete to win both the 400 and 800 m Olympic titles, which he achieved in 1976. He was ranked as the world's best runner in the 400 m in 1974 and 1976–19 ...

's 50.90. Juantorena caught up with him around the 550m mark and won in a world record time of 1:43.50. Singh faded away in the home straight to finish seventh with a time of 1:45.77. Juantorena later attributed his world record to Sriram's front running. Sriram Singh's time stood as the Asian record until it was broken by Lee Jin-il in 1994 and as a national record for 42 years until it was broken by Jinson Johnson in June 2018. In the year 1973, he was awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award, as recognition to his extraordinary achievements in Athletics. In the year 1974, he was awarded the prestigious civil award of

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 ...

as recognition to his contribution to the field of sport. He retained his 800 m gold medal in the 1978 Asian Games (1:48.80), but was eliminated in the heats of the same event in the

Moscow Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

. He also won 800m Silver medal in 1973 Asian Athletics Championships and 3 Gold medals for 400 m, 800 m and 4×400 m relay in 1975 Asian Athletics Championships. Post retirement he has taken up the job of mentoring talented youth in the sport and garners a lot of respect to this day

International competitions

References

* K. Arumugam and Gulu Ezekiel, ''Great Indian Olympians''

External links

* *
Sports personalities_ Sri Ram Singh Shekawat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Sriram 1950 births Living people Athletes from Rajasthan Indian male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for India Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Asian Games Medalists at the 1970 Asian Games Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games Medalists at the 1978 Asian Games Recipients of the Arjuna Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Asian Athletics Championships winners