Ram Singh Yadav (born 7 November 1984) is an Indian

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

runner. Ram represented India at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London. He achieved the B qualification standard (2:18:00) by clocking a time of 2:16:59 at the 2012

Mumbai Marathon The Mumbai Marathon (known as the Tata Mumbai Marathon for sponsorship reasons by Tata Group), is an annual international marathon held in Mumbai, India, on the third Sunday of January every year. It is the largest marathon in Asia as well as th ...

, which is also his best performance in this event. He is the second Indian athlete ever to be qualified for the marathon event of the Olympics. Before Yadav,

Shivnath Singh Shivnath Singh (July 11, 1946 – June 6, 2003) was one of the few great long-distance runners that India has produced. Singh represented India twice in the Asian games and twice at the Summer Olympics (1976 and 1980). He was born in Majharia, B ...

was the Indian athlete who participated in the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. Ram is a

havildar Havildar or havaldar ( Hindustani: or (Devanagari), (Perso-Arabic)) is a rank in the Indian, Pakistani and Nepalese armies, equivalent to sergeant. It is not used in cavalry units, where the equivalent is daffadar. Like a British sergeant, ...

in the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

Personal life

Ram is from Babiyan village,

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. His father was a fruit-seller in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. Ram married Urmila Yadav in 2001 and they have three children, Amit, Ankit and Alok. He is a havildar in the Indian Army and currently posted in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

’s Artillery Centre. He trains at Pune-based Army Sports Institute.

Olympic qualification

Ram missed the B qualification standard of 2:18:00 in 2008 during the 2009 Mumbai Marathon for Beijing Olympics' marathon event by few seconds, and thus did not qualify. He completed his race in 2:18:23 and finished 10th in the final standings. But president of the

Indian Olympic Association The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) or Indian Olympic Committee (IOC) is the body responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other international athletic meets and for managing the Indian teams ...

Suresh Kalmadi Suresh Kalmadi (born 1 May 1944) is an Indian politician who spent 10 months in jail from April 2011 to January 2012 on corruption charges related to his time in charge of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. He was accused of awarding a con ...

, mistakenly announced that Ram had qualified for the Olympics, which was later corrected by the organisers. For the 2012 Summer Olympics, Ram underwent training for 45 days at a high-altitude training centre in

Coonoor Coonoor, natively spelt as Kunnur (), is a Taluk and a municipality of the Nilgiris district in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. As of 2011, the town had a population of 45,494. Demographics According to 2011 census, Coonoor had a population ...

town of

Nilgiris district The Nilgiris district () is one of the 38 districts in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Nilgiri ( en, Blue Mountains) is the name given to a range of mountains spread across the borders among the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Ker ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. 2012 Mumbai Marathon was the first event he took part in after his training, the same event where he failed to claim an Olympic berth four years ago. Ram took 2:16:59 to finish the race, well under the B qualification standard of 2:18:00. He finished 12th overall in the final standings. 2:16:59 is also the personal best of Ram. Ram is only the second Indian athlete ever to be qualified for the marathon event of the Olympics. Shivnath Singh of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

was the first Indian athlete to participate in the Olympics marathon. He participated twice in the Olympic Games—

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

and

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

Olympic Games

At the London

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, he completed the marathon with a time of 2:30:06 which placed him 78th in the final rankings. From a field of 105 starters, as many as 20 runners failed to finish the grueling marathon final, which was won by Uganda's

Stephen Kiprotich Stephen Kiprotich ("KIP-roh-tich", born 27 February 1989) is a Ugandan long-distance runner. He is an Olympic marathon champion, having won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Kiprotich also won a gold at the 2013 World Championships in ...

in a time of 2:08:01.ram-singh-yadav-finishes-78th-in-marathon
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yadav, Ram Singh 1980 births Living people Indian male marathon runners Indian Army personnel People from Varanasi district Athletes from Varanasi Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of India Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India

Personal life

Olympic qualification

Olympic Games

See also

References

External links