New Delhi, India, December 10, 2022: It was the easiest race India’s golden girl P.T. Usha had run in her life. The legendary athlete was elected unopposed as the President of the Indian Olympic Association on Saturday, December 10.
She is the first woman president of the IOA.
The 58-year-old Usha, a multiple Asian Games gold medallist and fourth place finisher in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics 400m final, was officially declared as IOA president in polls held under the supervision of Supreme Court-appointed retired SC judge L. Nageswara Rao.
The elevation of Usha to the top job will also mark the end of the long-drawn crisis in the faction-ridden IOA, which was warned of a possible suspension by the International Olympic Committee if elections, originally due in December last year, were not held this month.
Usha, fondly known as the ‘Payyoli Express’, will become the first Olympian and first international medallist to head the IOA in its 95-year-old history, adding another feather in her cap after dominating Indian and Asian athletics for two decades before retiring in 2000 with a bagful of international medals.
India’s Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, previously the country’s Sports Minister, applauded the athlete on her election, and tweeted: “Congratulations to legendary Golden Girl Smt. P T Usha on being elected as the President of the Indian Olympic Association. I also congratulate all the sporting heroes of our country on becoming the office bearers of the prestigious IOA! Nation is proud of them.”
Indian media reported that it will be an altogether new responsibility for the iconic Usha, as she has no experience of holding any top office earlier. She is currently the chair of the junior selection committee of Athletics Federation of India.
Star sprinter Usha is one of the greatest athletes to have ever come out of India and brags four gold medals and seven silvers at the Asian Games.
She missed out on a podium finish in the women’s 400m hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics by 1/100th of a second. Her timing of 55.42 secs in LA is still a national record.
