Today, 44 years ago, 800 m specialist Sriram Singh smashed the Asian Record in the heats, came 2nd in the semi-finals and took the lead at the 300 m mark in the finals of the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Finally finished 7th.
His Asian record stood for 18 yrs, Indian record for 42.
They say that if he had the benefit of coaches who could help him pace better, he could have done much more. Sriram Singh is one of our greats, and is almost completely forgotten. But he was hugely respected by the likes of Alberto Juantorena, who won that race in record time
I should rephrase that. Ilyas Babar, his coach, was one of the best Indian athletic coaches. But our athletes had no exposure to western techniques, nobody to teach them to adjust their diet in western countries and no idea of conditions in which they would run.
My later brother-in-law Dev Lahiri was a serious runner and was studying at Oxford when Shriram came to England before the Olympics. He told me how Shriram struggled with his diet and the cold and rain. There was so little support and understanding..
late brother-in-law
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