Geeta Zutshi (born 2 December 1956) is a former Indian track and field athlete. She established several national and Asian running records in the 800 metres and

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

events. Zutshi won the women's silver medals for the 800 m in 1982, and for the 1500 m in both 1978 and 1982. As the top Indian woman athlete at the

1982 Asian Games The 9th Asian Games ( hi, 1982 एशियाई खेल) were held from 19 November to 4 December 1982, in Delhi, India. 74 Asian and Asian Games records were broken at the event. This was also the first Asiad to be held under the aegis of ...

in New Delhi, she took the oath on behalf of the competitors during the opening ceremony. For her achievements she has been awarded the

Arjuna award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

and the Padma Shri. She has inspired other Indian women, such as

Bachendri Pal Bachendri Pal (born 24 May 1954) is an Indian mountaineer. She is the first Indian woman to climb the summit of world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, what she did in 1984. She was awarded the third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan by Gov ...

, the first Indian woman to successfully climb Mount Everest. As a child, Pal began to aspire to national fame after seeing a newspaper photograph of Zutshi with Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

. She was coached by Mohammad Ilyas Babar. After 17 years in the United States, she returned to India in July, 2002, and took over as coach of the Indian junior athletics team (800 m and 1500 m).

International competitions

References

External links

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The Telegraph (India)
Living people 1956 births Kashmiri people Kashmiri Pandits Indian female middle-distance runners 20th-century Indian women 20th-century Indian people Olympic athletes of India Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 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 1978 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Asian Games Medalists at the 1978 Asian Games Medalists at the 1982 Asian Games Recipients of the Arjuna Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Place of birth missing (living people) {{India-athletics-bio-stub

International competitions

See also

References

External links