Honorary Captain Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) is a term used for a group of military ranks which is higher than havildar (non commissioned officer) and lower than lieutenant (commissioned officer). The term is only used by Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Seni ...

Sriram Singh Shekhawat (born 14 November 1948) is a former

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n middle-distance runner. Sriram Singh joined Rajputana Rifles in 1968 where he came under the influence of the coach

Ilyas Babar Mohammed Ilyas Babar (1926 – 30 July 2002) was an Indian athletic coach. Babar was born in Gulbarga in Karnataka. He became an outstanding university athlete in Hyderabad and was the state champion in 110m hurdles between 1950 and 1957, an ...

. Babar persuaded him to shift his focus from

400 meters 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 on ...

to 800 meters. In the

1970 Asian Games The 6th Asian Games () were held from 9 to 20 December 1970 in Bangkok, Thailand.- - Seoul, South Korea, had been selected to host the 6th Games but it declined due to both financial reasons and security threats from neighboring North Korea. (T ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

, he was beaten to the second place in the 800 meters by

Jimmy Crampton Jimmy Crampton (born 23 July 1947) is a Burmese former middle distance runner who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. Singh was eliminated in the heats of the Munich Olympics in 1972 but his time of 1:47.7 bettered Crampton's Asian record. Prior to the competition he had never run on synthetic tracks. He improved his time to 1:47.6 to win the gold in the

1974 Asian Games The 7th Asian Games ( fa, بازی‌های آسیایی ۱۹۷۴) were held from 1 to 16 September 1974 in Tehran, Imperial State of Iran. The Aryamehr Sports Complex was built for the Games. The Asian Games were hosted in the Middle East for th ...

. The high point of Sriram Singh's career was the 800m race in

1976 Montreal 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 ...

. The qualifying round, the semifinal and the final were run on successive days. In the first race, he broke his own Asian record with a time of 1:45.86 In the semifinal, he came fourth in a time of 1:46.42 In the final, Singh made a huge rush from the break at 300 meters to take lead at the bell with a time of 50.85 ahead of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n Alberto Juantorena's 50.90. Juantorena caught up with him around the 550m mark and won in a world record time of 1:43.50. Singh faded away in the home straight to finish seventh with a time of 1:45.77. Juantorena later attributed his world record to Sriram's front running. Sriram Singh's time stood as the Asian record until it was broken by

Lee Jin-il Lee Jin-Il (born January 12, 1973 in Daegu) is a retired South Korean athlete who competed in the 800 metres. His personal best time is 1.44.14 in 800 metres, achieved in June 17, 1994 in the South Korean Athletics Championships. This is the curre ...

in 1994 and as a national record for 42 years until it was broken by

Jinson Johnson Naib Subedar Jinson Johnson (born 15 March 1991) is an Indian middle-distance runner and an Indian Army Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) who specialises in the 800 and 1500 metres event. He participated in the 800 metres event at the 2016 Summ ...

in June 2018. In the year 1973, he was awarded the prestigious

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 ...

, as recognition to his extraordinary achievements in Athletics. In the year 1974, he was awarded the prestigious civil award of

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

as recognition to his contribution to the field of sport. He retained his 800 m gold medal in the 1978 Asian Games (1:48.80), but was eliminated in the heats of the same event in the Moscow Olympics. He also won 800m Silver medal in

1973 Asian Athletics Championships The inaugural Asian Athletics Championships were held in 1973 at the Rodriguez Sports Center in Marikina, Rizal, Philippines from November 18–23, 1973. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal Table External linksGBR Athletics ...

and 3 Gold medals for 400 m, 800 m and 4×400 m relay in

1975 Asian Athletics Championships The second Asian Athletics Championships were held in 1975 in Seoul, South Korea. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table External linksGBR Athletics {{asian athletics champs Asian Athletics Championships Asian Sport in ...

. Post retirement he has taken up the job of mentoring talented youth in the sport and garners a lot of respect to this day

International competitions

References

* K. Arumugam and Gulu Ezekiel, ''Great Indian Olympians''

External links

* *
Sports personalities_ Sri Ram Singh Shekawat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Sriram 1950 births Living people Athletes from Rajasthan Indian male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes of India Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 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 1970 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Asian Games Medalists at the 1970 Asian Games Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games Medalists at the 1978 Asian Games Recipients of the Arjuna Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports