Full Name | Pilavullakandi Tevaraparampil Usha |
Titles | Queen of Indian Track and field, Asian sprint queen, Payyoli Express, Golden girl |
Profession | Athlete |
Date of birth | 27 June 1964 |
Place of birth | Payyoli, Kozhikode, India |
Family |
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International Debut | Moscow Olympics, 1980 |
Was noticed | 1982 Asian Games |
Inspired into athletics | Balakrishnan Nair, Physical education teacher |
Best timings | 100 meters (11.39 seconds), 200metres (23.25 sec), 400 meters (51.61 sec) and the 400 meters hurdles (55.42 sec). |
Coaches | O.M.Nambiar, JS. Bhatia |
Works for | Southern Railways |
Opinions about her |
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Favorite food | meen molasia, sambhar and kootu-curry. |
Name of her house | Ushass |
Best Moment | Winning the first medal in the Asian games1982 |
Worst moment | 1984 Olympics she missed the bronze medal in 400m hurdles by just 1/100th of a second. |
Disappointment | “I had so much of talent but I lacked the right exposure at the right time. If I had participated in meets abroad regularly, I could have performed so much better.” |
Has started | School of Athletics at Koyilandi near Kozhikode |
Achievements |
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Awards and Honors |
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Her opinion about India’s future in athletics |
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Facts |
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Her Autobiography | Golden Girl, was published by Penguin in 1987 |
Books about her | P.T.Usha, the pride of India, by P.T. Rajasekharan. Ore Oru Usha, by Rajagopal |
Dream | Atleast any one from her school should get an Olympic medal. |
Quote | “I feel something is missing in my life if I am not running” |
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