Manathoor Devasia Valsamma (born 21 October 1960) is a retired Indian athlete. She was the second Indian woman to win an individual gold medal at the Asian Games and the first to win it on Indian soil.

Early life

Valsamma was born on 21 October 1960 in Ottathai, Kannur district of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. She started her athletics career during school days though she only took it more seriously when she moved to Mercy College,Mercy College, Palakkad
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Palakkad Palakkad (), formerly known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the Palakkad District. Palakkad is most densely populated municipal ...

, for further studies. Her first medal was for

in the

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

and pentathlon in the Inter-University Championship at Pune in 1979. She was enrolled in Southern Railway (India) and was coached by A. K. Kutty. She created a great impression at the Inter-State Meet at

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

in 1981 by winning five gold medals, the hurdles over 100 and 400 metres in addition to the 400 metres flat and the

400 m The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is o ...

and 100 m relays. That performance catapulted her into the Railway and national teams and in 1982 she became the national champion over 400-metre hurdles with a new record, which was also better than the Asian record.

Professional athletics career

Valsamma won the gold medal in the 400 m hurdles in an Indian and Asian record time of 58.47 seconds in front of a home crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in 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 t ...

. This made her the second woman athlete to win an Asian Games gold for India, after Kamaljit Sandhu (400 metres- 1974). She later figured in a silver medal-winning 4 X 400 metres relay team. Govt. of India conferred her the Arjuna Award in 1982 and the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

in 1983 and the G. V. Raja cash award from

Government. For the first time in the history, the Indian women team entered the finals in the Los Angeles Olympics, 1984 and finished in the seventh position. Valsamma began concentrating more on 100 m hurdles. She won a gold in the 100 m hurdles and created a National record in the first National Games in 1985. Valsamma also appeared in the Spartakiad 1983 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games in

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

fetched her bronze in the 100 metres, a Silver in the quarter-mile and the Gold m the 4 x 400 metres relay. In a career spanning nearly 15 years, M.D. Valsamma took part in

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

meets in

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Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

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, the Asian Games editions of 1982, 86, 90 and 94 and in all the Asian Track & Field meets and SAF Games, leaving her mark in each and every competition.

References

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports Portal

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valsamma, M. D. Living people 1960 births Sportswomen from Kerala Indian female sprinters Indian female hurdlers 20th-century Indian women 20th-century Indian people Olympic athletes for India 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 1982 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Asian Games Recipients of the Arjuna Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Malayali people People from Kannur district Medalists at the 1982 Asian Games Medalists at the 1986 Asian Games Athletes from Kerala South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games silver medalists for India South Asian Games bronze medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in athletics